Accusation
by Stealth Dragon
Summary: Accusations have been made. Danny is in trouble, but just how much trouble he has yet to realize. PG for some violence and mild language. Final two chapters now up.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own not this thing I write of. (I don't own CSI anything)

Danny's in trouble, bigger toruble than he knows. This story idea came partially from an episode I only caught the end of, much to my dissapointment. All I know is that at some time in Danny's life, he was hanging with a rough crowd. Oh how I wish I had been home in time for that episode.

CSY NY

Accusation

Ch.1

Danny kept still as a statue as he stared off into space. He had his arm on his desk and his head resting against his fist. He was too deep in thought to acknowledge much around him, so when Aiden slapped his desk with the flat of her hand Danny jumped, straightening, as though he had been sleeping the whole time.

" Wake up Messer, It's going home time," Aiden said with a cheery smile. Danny rubbed the spot on his head that had been resting against his knuckles.

" Yeah, I know," he said distractedly.

Aiden looked at him curiously. " You all right? You don't act like you're happy, and that isn't right. I mean you caught the guy, and in only a day. If anyone's got bragging rights it's you. So why aren't you grinning in a way that makes everyone want to hit you."

Danny shrugged. " I don't feel like it. The whole case, it just felt… too easy."

Aiden jerked in alarm. " What! Too easy? What the crap Danny I'd sell my soul for too easy. Just because the moron left the murder weapon in his own apartment doesn't make this _too easy_. Lighten up, Messer, really."

She then thumped him lightly on the shoulder. " Come on, let's celebrate. I'll take you out to the crappiest fast-food dump you can find and get you something that tastes better than it looks. How 'bout it."

Danny shook his head. " Not hungry."

Aiden stared at him for a moment in scrutiny, as though trying to see through flesh and bone into Danny's thoughts.

" Does this have to do with this Ricky guy you caught? You said he was part of some gang or mob or something…"

Danny idly scratched the side of his neck. " Bruno's gang, or Bruno's boys, whatever. Guy's like half Irish, half Dutch or something but he thinks he's Italian. He's such a freakin' cliché I'm surprised real Italians don't beat him stupid. Kind of wish they would. But he apparently has a good thing going. He's gotten away with a lot and he's always taken on new people. His people may be screw-ups, but he has yet to be. But no, that's not what it is. I'm not worried about that guy. I mean, I probably should be, but I'm not."

Aiden wrinkled her brow at this. " Should be?"

" Well, it's like I said, he may be a cliché but he knows what he's doing. Maybe he'll get involved with what's happening to this kid, maybe he won't. I think Ricky's related to him, like a cousin or something. But the evidence is against Ricky, so the only thing Bruno can do is get him a good lawyer, threaten Ricky to keep his mouth shut and just take what's coming, then back off. If Ricky's smart, he'll spill about Bruno, get his sentence cut, and get out of this. But my few encounters with Ricky have me believing he isn't that smart."

Aiden pursed her lips and nodded. " Okay then. So you're only problem is that the case was too easy, even after you yourself admitted that the perp may be an idiot."

Danny shrugged one shoulder. Aiden shook her head.

" Danny, Danny, Danny. You know what you're problem is? You're a perfectionist. You want there to be something else - some extra little, speck of dust evidence - that would help convict this Bruno guy as well as his cousin. You don't want this case to be over because, in your mind, it isn't. I say just be happy you got this guy at all, even if he is just some dumb kid."

She gave Danny a pat on the shoulder, then turned and headed on her way.

" Bruno," she spat as she left. " Sounds like something you name a dog. A big dumb one."

Her comment made Danny grin.

Danny had to admit it would have been nice finding something that would convict Bruno. Ricky was not the first of Bruno's gang Danny had dealt with. He had convicted a few here and there. His knowledge of Bruno, however, stemmed from a time before turning to a life of forensics. At that time, Danny had been running with the wrong kind of people, the kind that probably would have killed him had he not left. Bruno was the rival of those people, and whenever there had been a confrontation, Danny had been there. When that happened, Danny would be the one to receive the worst of it.

Bruno obviously did not remember Danny. He had yet to ever bring any of it up during investigations, and Danny knew from experience that anyone with knowledge of another's past tended to hold it over their heads like a knife. Not that what Bruno knew would ruin Danny's career, but the knowledge was still something Danny would rather keep buried.

What troubled Danny now with this particular case was the murder weapon. Most tended to discard the weapon as soon as they could, either at the scene or in a dumpster. Perhaps Ricky was stupid, but Bruno wasn't. So either Bruno never found out Ricky had kept the gun or… or what? If Bruno had found out he would have discarded the gun himself, then lay down the worst beating of Ricky's life.

Another factor that tugged at Danny's mind was how many times he must have overlooked the weapon. It had been right there on the cable spool that Ricky was using as a makeshift coffee table. It had been right there for the entire world to see, and Danny hadn't seen it until after going over the scene for twenty minutes.

At first he had passed it off to weariness and hunger, since he hadn't eaten for most of the day, jumping from one lead to the next without a break. That could be the reason, but he tended to catch things fairly quick, even without breakfast and lunch. Mac said so often enough, not so much in terms of praise but in terms of being unnaturally meticulous, bordering on obsessive. But, then again, what CSI wasn't like that?

Yet to nearly miss the most vital clue of the case, the murder weapon, had brought doubt seeping into Danny's mind; doubts about himself, about his abilities, even about previous cases. He had begun to wonder, and wondered even now, if there had been other times when he had missed something important that was right under his nose. He never recalled any incidents of this happening. All the same, the doubt still slunk about his mind like a rat, not letting it settle on the fact that Ricky was going to be put away, and Bruno was one man shorter than he had been.

Danny had become so engrossed in these thoughts once more that he did not notice Mac standing before him. Again, Danny jumped, straightening.

" Hey Mac," Danny said nervously, feeling abashed as though Mac had come in just in time to witness what Danny had been thinking.

The look on Mac's face was disquieting. He appeared troubled, even a little angry. Danny's heart picked up a slightly faster rhythm, and he swallowed uneasily.

" What's up?" Danny asked next, caught between curiosity and not wanting to know.

" We've got a problem," Mac said. " Come with me."

Dread trickled slowly like ice water down Danny's spine, though he did not know why. For all he knew, this had absolutely nothing to do with him.


	2. Accusation ch 2

Disclaimer: I already said I didn't own this.

I am warning you now - I am not very fond of swear words. They tend to bring about some rather righteous indignation in me (i.e. swearing makes me angry). So please do not point out my lack of any swears. I have gone as far as hinting at them, but I'd rather avoid them. I know they might make the story better, but I really don't care. It's just not my way. Thank you.

CSI NY

Ch. 2

" What?" Danny snapped, confused, shocked, and knowing good and well that he could not have heard correctly.

He was standing in Mac's office just to the right of his desk. Standing across from him, wearing a look of utter disappointment, was Detective Tom Ryan, the cop who Danny had worked with on the shooting. Tom was Danny's height, but much older and with a heavier build. His thick brown hair looked as though it did not know the passage of time (most likely thanks to hair-dye), but his face was lined in betrayal of his actual age. He was wearing his usual dark brown over coat, with his usual black leather gloves stuffed into one pocket.

Standing next to Tom was a young police woman with short blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She had been one of the cops sent to secure Ricky's apartment to ensure none of Bruno's guys could get in and hide what they didn't want found. She was standing stiffly with her hands folded behind her back and her face expressionless, though the look in her eyes held something like accusation as she stared at Danny.

" Just what I said," Tom replied calmly, " evidence tampering. Officer Jennings believes that evidence may have been planted, and it may have been planted by you Messer."

Danny shook his head vehemently. " No, no way. I'd never do that…"

" Did she actually see him place the evidence?" Mac asked.

" It wasn't there when we arrived," Jennings said tersely.

" Are you sure you simply didn't miss it?" Mac asked next.

" No sir. There was little else in the place, and the suspect's table was the first thing I noticed. It's not a normal piece of furniture to have."

Mac nodded. " Okay then. Can the officer that was with you at the time vouch for this as well?"

Jennings nodded. " Yes. He also noticed this."

" Where is he then?" Mac directed this question at Tom.

" He was requested to testify at another hearing, but he'll be by later to make his statement."

Mac looked back at Jennings. " And you came forward with this information immediately, right?"

" I did hesitate at first since I did not see the forensics officer place the gun on the table. But I knew for a fact that the gun had not been there before, and when Mr. Messer announced that he had found something I saw him picking it up from the table to place in a bag. My only conclusion was that he had placed it there."

Disbelief and fury was making Danny's heart hammer like a fist beating his ribs. It suddenly made sense to him why he had not seen the gun so many times before. Yes, Jennings was right, the gun must have been planted, but no way had he been the one to do it.

He shook his head again, his stomach twisting in revulsion. " No, this is bull. I'd never plant evidence. Look, I didn't see the gun right off the bat, but I did find it on that table, just like I said. If somebody put it there it sure as hell wasn't me. And I wasn't the only one in there either." Danny stared hard at Tom.

Detective Ryan quirked an eyebrow. " You accusing _me_ now, Messer?" Tom said with a slight smile. " If you recall, I wasn't in there for long, and neither was I alone. Officer Carlton was standing just behind me. And since his suspicions were also directed on you I think that means I must not have put anything down on that table for him to witness."

Tom's smug grin made Danny want to deliver a good blow across the detective's jaw. Instead, he clenched his fist and swallowed back his rising anger as best as he could.

" Still doesn't make me the guilty one," Danny said, glaring darkly at Tom.

" It does bring you under question, though," Tom said. " There's going to be an inquiry. The DA isn't happy about this and she's asked for an immediate investigation into it. So, if you're as innocent as you say Messer, then you have nothing to worry about."

Mac stepped out from around his desk to move in front of Tom as though trying to shield Danny from him and the angered gaze of the female officer.

" Whatever inquiries are made, I have to be present. Got that?"

Tom inclined his head in acquiescence. " Sure. But you'd better stay out of it."

" I also want detective Flack involved," Mac added, " if that's all right."

Tom lifted his brow. " To ask questions for you?"

" To make sure any questions asked are fair," Mac said. " I trust my CSI. I believe him. I also know how cases like these tend to get handled. Sometimes, to save face, things are done to produce a guilty party just to have a guilty party to sic the media on. I want this investigation to be unbiased is all."

Tom rolled his eyes as though bored. " Whatever Mac. Just stay out of the way. Messer won't be the only one under investigation. If he turns up guilty, this whole department's coming up for review, starting with you. So don't make it any worse for yourself."

With that said, Detective Ryan and officer Jennings left Mac's office. Mac waited until they were out of sight before turning to a fuming Danny.

" Sit down Danny," Mac said gently, pulling up one of the wooden chairs of his office closer to his desk. Danny sank slowly into it, gripping the arms until his hands turned white.

Even with Tom and Jennings gone his heart would not stop its frenzied beat. He felt drained, as though he had just run too many miles.

Mac moved back around his desk to sit down at his own chair.

" Danny, look at me."

Danny looked up and met his gaze.

" Did you plant evidence?"

Danny's jaw tightened until his teeth hurt. " No," he stated solidly as though the very word meant more to him than his own life.

Mac leaned forward with his arms resting on his desk. " You said that you didn't notice the gun until later, right?"

" Yeah. It was actually one of the last things I found. I was a little tired that day so I thought I had just overlooked it."

" A gun is a little difficult to overlook I would think," said Mac.

Danny frowned. " I know. So Jennings must be right, it was planted. But I wasn't the one who did it. You know me, Mac, I'd never do that. And besides, why would I do it now with a punk like Ricky? I've gone after dozen's of Bruno's boys, ones with more on 'em than Ricky. Why wouldn't I have done it with one of them?"

Mac sighed. " Actually, they may try to make it seem like you did. An accusation of evidence tampering has been made against you, which means that every one of your previous cases will reviewed."

Danny nodded bitterly. " And the guys I convicted may have a chance to get out, while my career, and neck, will be strung out on a limb."

Mac said nothing, then nodded solemnly. " True. But I do believe you Danny. I can't be involved in the interrogation process but I can still help. If someone planted that gun then there must be evidence of it. If there is, then we'll find it. I'll get Stella started on it as soon as I can."

Danny let out a breath of reassurance, feeling some tension lift away. " Thanks Mac."

Mac looked grim. " Don't thank me yet, not until this is over. It's only going to get worse from here."


	3. Accusation ch 3

Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own CSY New York!

(Yes, I know I'm strange.)

CSI NY

Ch. 3

Reporters tended to move fast. Danny had only received the news of his accusation yesterday, and the very next day the report of Ricky McCalister's trial being suspended due to evidence in question was all over the news. To Mac's relief, the details of this questioning was not given, and hopefully still not known.

He was standing in the lab next to Stella, watching her as she removed the gun carefully from the evidence bag with thumb and forefinger, as though the gun might try to bite her.

" Poor Danny," she said. " I'm surprised they're letting you do this. They may want you as a character witness, so you probably shouldn't be getting involved."

" I'm not doing anything, you are," Mac replied. " I'm just casually standing by, observing out of pure boredom."

Stella smirked. " Sure you are. So what are we looking for exactly?"

" You tell me," Mac said.

Just then, Aiden stuck her head through the door. " Hey Mac, Flack wants you. I think it's time."

Stella looked up at Mac and grimaced. " Tell Danny I said good luck."

Mac nodded, then removed his lab coat as he walked out. Flack was waiting for him, and the expression on his face did not make Mac hopeful.

Flack matched strides with Mac as they walked.

" They got Alecson on this one," Flack said. " You know, the guy who could probably get a confession out of Charles Manson if given the chance? I mean don't get me wrong, he's a good cop and a good guy, But he's going to rip Danny to shreds on this."

Mac didn't reply. He knew Alecson from many previous cases, and knew Flack was right. The man was like a pit bull; he always went for the throat.

" Try to keep it from getting too bad, if possible," was all Mac could say.

The questioning took place in the interrogation room, where the DA – a middle-aged woman named Deborah Mallens - and Mac could watch through the two-way and not be present as an influence, just invisible observers. Mac didn't like it one bit, watching Danny through the window on the wrong side of the table. He was dressed smartly as though going in for a job interview, and he even had his hands clasped loosely on the table as though he were completely relaxed. The twitching in his jaw, however, told another story.

Alecson and Flack were sitting across from him, with Alecson doing the questioning. They had already interviewed the two officers and Detective Ryan, which had all gone well and calmly. But Danny was the suspect, so the real questioning had yet to begin.

The first couple of questions were routine. Who Danny was, where he lived, what his job was, and so on. They then went into the case, who the suspect was, who the victim was. The victim had been a young man from a gang that was believed to be Bruno's rival. Danny went into details about the investigation, what they had found and the like. Then they came to the subject at hand; the weapon.

" You say that you didn't find the gun immediately, is that right?" Alecson asked, looking from his notepad to Danny. He had a small stack of files and papers before him, but he had yet to ever look at them, only the notepad.

" Yes. I didn't spot it until twenty minutes after I entered the room," Danny responded.

" And why was that?"

Danny glanced at his hands, then looked back up. " I-I'm not sure. I believe it was because I was tired, and unable to think clearly."

Mac could almost see Danny's spirit sinking in the way his face whitened. To admit to something like that, to confess that his mind had not been entirely on the case, was the same as admitting to being incapable of doing ones job. Yes, it may have been just that one day, but that day may as well be his entire lifetime now.

" You were _tired_?" Alecson asked next. His face was expressionless, but his tone was growing harsher.

" Yes. The case began around three in the morning when the body was found after someone had reported hearing gunshots. I stayed on it the whole day until the arrest and interrogation was made that evening. I – didn't stop for lunch or dinner during that time. By the time I reached the suspect's apartment I was feeling a little tired… but I was still able to do my job."

Alecson dropped his notepad onto the table to fold his hands on the tabletop.

" Doesn't sound like you were able to do your job to me."

Danny once again looked down at his own hands uncomfortably. He could not respond to that. When he didn't, Alecson leaned forward a little.

" Could it be possible that, maybe, you had found the gun, forgot you had it, and set it on the table without realizing?"

Danny shook his head. " No, no way. I would have bagged it. I would have bagged it and put it in my kit. That's not something you just forget to do."

" Maybe you saw it lying at the crime scene and mistook it for your gun, putting it in your pocket. Then, remembering you had it, and knowing it for what it really was, you panicked and put it on the table to clean up your mistake."

Danny shook his head harder. " No way. I always put my gun back after drawing it, _always_. I was tired, not delirious. I knew what I was doing and what I had done. There was no gun at the crime scene or anywhere nearby. I looked, we all looked. When I did find it, it was at the apartment. Maybe it hadn't been there when we arrived, but that's where I found it."

Alecson became thoughtfully quiet for a moment, then leaned back in his chair. " You've dealt with Bruno and his boys before, right?"

" Yes, in previous cases, two of which also involved murder."

" But Bruno was never convicted for any of it. His boys took the heat and he walked off free as a bird."

Lines creased in Danny's forehead. " Yeah, so?"

" That must have been frustrating for you."

Danny shrugged. " I think it was frustrating for everyone."

Alecson lifted up his notepad with one hand, glanced over it, and let it drop.

" No, I mean for you. You've had previous encounters with him, haven't you? Before becoming a CSI?"

Danny's hands clenched tightly so that his knuckles paled. His throat moved in a hard swallow. Mac tensed in sympathy. He was not in on the details of all the troubles of Danny's life, just that he had them. Danny rarely opened up about it except to say that he had once been a kid who had fallen in with the wrong sort of people. It was difficult enough for him to say that much, so Mac had never tried to pry beyond it.

" Here and there," Danny replied, his voice strangely calm though tension seemed to emanate from him.

Alecson looked at his notes again. " I'm familiar with Bruno and his gang myself. I decided to do a little research into them. Seems one of them was arrested for putting a kid in the hospital, supposedly per Bruno's order though it was never proven. I did a little more research, and learned that that kid was you."

Flack looked from Alecson to Danny in alarm. Danny kept staring at his hands.

" So?"

" So… it seems to me you may or may not have something personal against Bruno and his gang. Do you?"

Danny shook his head. " Not really."

" Not really?"

Danny looked up, meeting Alecson's gaze. " Not enough to plant evidence. What happened to me when I was a kid was my own fault. I _chose_ to hang around people like that, and took what came with it. I know that, I accept that, and I don't hold it against anyone. That includes Bruno's gang. I wouldn't risk my own career just to get back at him by putting his _cousin_ in jail. He's not worth it."

Alecson narrowed his eyes. " Are you sure? The incident I read of wasn't the first or the last. I believe it was the fourth out of seven? And also very brutal."

" I told you, it's my own fault."

Alecson smiled. " You really believe that? Come on, it must tear you up inside knowing everything he's getting away with, including the stuff he had done to you. You know, I'm surprised he hasn't tried to spill anything about you just to save his cousin. Wouldn't be the first time he's done it. You say you hung around with bad people? What kind of people, huh? People like Bruno? Gangs, mobs, what?"

Danny shrugged. " Just… bad people. But I stopped. I got out."

Alecson shook his head. " So you think. Sometimes, you can never get out, not unless you're dead."

Danny grinned at this. " Yeah, well sometimes you can. The fact is I'm out, and I've got nothing against Bruno that would cause me to lose my job. I made bad choices, yeah, but I'm not an idiot."

Alecson released a sharp breath through his nose. " For your sake you'd better not be." He picked up the notepad. " I think we're done here."

Alecson stood first and left the room immediately. Mallens went to meet him and the two headed from the room to talk privately. Danny got up more slowly, as though the whole interview had worn him out. Flack gave him a reassuring pat on the back and followed him out.

" I'm impressed," Mac said. " You kept calm."

Danny looked nervously in the direction Alecson had gone. " He knew a lot."

" He's a cop," Flack said. " He's going to know a lot. But you did good in there. His plan was to make you lose it, have a fit. But I think everything you said'll work in your favor. But… that's going to depend on the next time. Alecson's going to try and dig up more on you. This was just the taste-test."

Mac saw the briefest shudder pass through Danny. The younger man looked tired, even afraid, and Mac couldn't blame him for that. Alecson would try harder, which meant exposing painful incidents that Danny would rather keep to himself, and ones buried even from himself. Danny would be exposed, and even if he didn't lose his job his reputation would be tainted.

Though curiosity tugged, Mac decided not to learn that past for himself first. He trusted Danny, Danny had admitted – at least – that he had done some wrong. But he was making up for it now. He deserved to have the past stay in the past.

" Danny," Mac said.

Danny's head shot around to look at him.

" Go home, get some rest, and be ready. That's all you can do right now."

Danny nodded, then turned and left.

" You know," Flack said after Danny had gone, " this feels like a witch hunt to me. They after Danny 'cause he of some evidence planting or because he wasn't the perfect little school boy when he was younger?"

Mac shoved his hands into his pockets. " The evidence. Somebody did plant it, just not him."

" Yeah," Flack said next. " Danny isn't the only one who doesn't like Bruno. Gotta be plenty of people out there with bigger grudges."

Flack's words settled into Mac's mind to become a myriad of thoughts. He immediately pulled out his phone and dialed up Stella's number.

" Stella here."

" Stella, it's Mac. If Aiden isn't busy, I want you to have her pull up every file on anything involving Brian "Bruno" McCalister. Focus on the cases and who was involved at the time."

" Way ahead of you there. She's already on it."

Mac smile. " Then tell her thanks."


	4. Accusation ch 4

Disclaimer: I will say it one more time, I don't own CSI.

Note: This chapter contains some violence, but a I was not certain whether it crossed over to the PG-13 arena. I don't think it does, so I stand by my PG rating, but I'd thought I'd just warn you, just in case.

CSI NY

Ch. 4

Rest. There wouldn't be any rest, not for Danny Messer. He may have looked weary on the outside, but on the inside he was strung out and wired. He had to clench his fists and shove them in the pockets of his coat to stop them from shaking.

For him, it was not a simple matter of hating to have to speak about his past, but speaking about it in front of people he knew and respected. It shamed him, what he had been, and he didn't want them to know. Would they still be his friends if they knew? Perhaps. Would they still respect him, look at him the same? That he could not say, and it was that he feared the most. He did not want them to see him any other way than who he was now.

It had been a mistake to take on this case. He had been overly hopeful that, maybe this time, Bruno would be the one to end up behind bars and not just one of his cronies. The way things were going now, not even the crony would get his, and Danny would probably be the one in jail.

The day was still cold and wet, but it was a weak chill without the wind to make it worse. All the same Danny shivered, both from the slight chill and tension. He moved slowly as he walked. There were fewer people on the sidewalk today so he didn't have to maneuver as much. The parking lot wasn't far, but it felt far to him. He stared at the sidewalk as he went, paying no attention to the people walking by him.

Then one passing figure suddenly reached out and caught hold of the shoulder of his coat, stopping Danny abruptly. Danny looked up, turning partway, to stare into a somewhat familiar face.

The guy was shorter than Danny, but heavier, with a round face, small blue eyes, and dark brown hair slicked stiffly back. He was wearing a heavy black coat with neatly pressed Khaki pants and expensive looking black suede shoes.

" Hey Danny, how've you been lately?" The man asked. Danny didn't remember the guy's name, just his face. He was one of Bruno's.

Danny jerked his shoulder away and continued walking. The man quickened his steps to catch up with him.

" Danny, my man, why the cold shoulder?" He laughed at this. " Hey, I just wanna talk is all."

Danny quickened his steps, and so did the man. " What, you pretending not to know me? It's me, Steve. Don't you remember me? Ah, Probably not, huh? It's like you said, we're all just a bunch of Godfather wannabe's. Bet we all look alike to you, don't we."

Danny scowled. " 'Bout time one of you realized it," he mumbled.

" What's that? I didn't catch that. Anyway, the boss sent me here to ask a question, about Ricky… and something about evidence you left at his place? Is that true Danny? Was some evidence messed with?"

Danny slowed, startled. They weren't supposed to know this. Then again, Steve could just be testing him, getting reactions to see what was true and what wasn't. It was on the news that evidence was in question. There was no secret there. The rest could only be speculation.

" Wouldn't know anything about that, Steve. So be a good little messenger and tell you're boss that."

Steve clasped Danny on the shoulder. " Danny, I don't think that's the answer he's looking for. He just wants to know what's up with it. Did somebody frame his little cousin? Was it you? I bet it was you. He just wants to know what's going on, what'll happen to his cousin, that kind of crap."

" Tell him his cousin's going to jail."

Steve tightened his grip on Danny's shoulder until it began to ache, but Danny held back any reaction so as not to give Steve the satisfaction.

" That's not very nice, _Dan_. And it ain't true if what I hear tell is going on."

Danny stopped and turned to face Steve. " You always believe what you're told? Sometimes those news reports have it wrong. And why would you think I did it? I wasn't the only one after you guys."

Steve lifted one shoulder in a shrug. " Bruno seems stuck on the idea. I don't think he likes you much Danny. Not much at all. I'd watch it if I were you."

Danny shoved Steve's hand from his shoulder. " That a threat Steve?"

Steve raised his hands and began backing away. " Just a little warning. You know, between friends?"

Danny chuckled bitterly. " What makes you think we're friends just 'cause of a little warning?"

Steve shrugged, then turned and walked on, whistling happily.

Danny watched him for a moment with anger twisting his insides. " Stupid son of a…" he mumbled, then turned and walked away as well.

Danny did not go home right away. He was too agitated to simply sit around and wait for tomorrow, especially since it would only be a repeat of today. He drove about, thinking, stopping at his favorite sandwich shop but only eating half his sandwich.

He was certain that it had been Tom that tampered with the evidence. The reason why wasn't important, everybody hated Bruno and his gang. What he wondered was if the two cops were in on it, but he could not say for certain. Jennings seemed the clean-cut type, by the book as it were. But that had been an immediate impression and Danny knew better than to stick with those.

Danny went through these thoughts over and over. He wished he could be part of the investigation rather than on the wrong end of it. He trusted Mac, Stella, and Aiden but he needed something to do.

When the daylight began to fade, Danny finally headed home. The time it took past like a blink, the only good aspect of having troubled thoughts. When he arrived, he parked, turned off the ignition, and sat there for a moment.

He did not want to go in tomorrow. He did not want Alecson asking more questions. The thought of it made him queasy, and for the first time in his life he had the sudden urge to fake sick and call it in. It would only be one day, one brief respite, but it might help him to prepare. He knew it wasn't true, but it was still tempting. He dreaded what Alecson might dredge up, and dreaded even more having Flack and Mac hear about it.

The world was growing dark outside with the stars hidden by gray overcast, and the dropping temperature was seeping into the car. Danny waited a moment longer, then shuddered and got out of the car. The moment he turned to lock it, something pressed into his back while simultaneously a hand gripped his shoulder.

" Don't even breathe," a voice hissed in his ear. " And don't even think about turning around. Just go where I guide ya. Oh yeah, and hands up."

Danny obeyed, raising his hands to neck level. The man behind him pulled Danny carefully away from the car, then away from the apartment building.

The man pushed Danny's head so that his gaze was on the ground. " Keep it there," he snapped.

They turned, moving toward the neighboring buildings and onto the sidewalk, keeping to the shadows. Danny knew his neighborhood, but with his eyes down he could not say exactly where they were going. It seemed they went down every turn they came to, moving through allies into darker, more unknown places that Danny had never gone through.

" You want something pal?" Danny asked despite his dread.

" Yeah, we want something."

The use of "we" made Danny's spirits sink lower than he thought possible.

" This isn't the kind of place you wanna be doing anything in," Danny said.

The assailant pressed his gun harder into Danny's back until it seemed to grate against his backbone.

" You'd be surprised how easily people tend to ignore stuff."

They moved into a wide space between two buildings where light seemed not to exist. The shadows were so thick they were stifling, and Danny thought his eyes would never adjust. He saw what he thought was movement flicker out of the corner of his eyes, and the heard scrape and crunch of footsteps. The man with the gun yanked off Danny's coat and jacket, allowing the growing cold to attack Danny. Someone else took his gun and he heard it go clattering and sliding away.

Danny's heart was already pounding the rate of a jackhammer. The increasing cold and his increasing tension caused him to shiver involuntarily until even his breath came and went unsteadily.

But he was well aware of what this was, of who these people were. What he did not know was what would happen next, so he could not help his terror.

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, and he flinched.

" We're he-re," someone hissed in his ear in a singsong voice like the girl from Poltergeist. " Time for the thing we want. You ready for this Messer? No? I didn't think so."

There came many chuckles. Then the pressure of the gun went away, and the moment it did something hard and fast struck Danny's back. He fell to the ground on all fours, crying out in pain. Hands grabbed him roughly by the shoulders to pull him onto his knees. He saw, faintly, the outline of a head. Someone was crouching in front of him. Someone else removed his glasses, and like the gun sent them skittering away.

" Did you plant evidence at Ricky's place?" the person asked. His voice was deep and hoarse, like the voice of a large man who was also a heavy smoker.

Danny shook his head.

" What was that?"

" No."

The person stood, and then a fist struck Danny across the face. It was a hard blow, and Danny would have fallen if the hands on his shoulders had not jerked him back into kneeling. Then the fist struck him in the chest to force the air from him. Danny gasped it back in, sputtering curses and coughing.

" Okay, maybe you're not hearing me right. Did you – plant evidence – at Ricky's – Place."

Danny grinned viciously, feeling spiteful despite his fear. " No – I – Did – Not. O – kay?"

He was struck again. The metallic flavor of blood fill his mouth, so he spat it out onto the ground, hearing it hit with a wet slap.

" Don't get smart, Messer! Just tell the freakin' truth!" The man struck again, this time in the other direction. Danny sucked in a sharp breath, grimacing, feeling warm blood trail down his face from next to his eye.

" It is the truth you stupid son of a…!"

The next blow pulled him from the other man's grip, and he fell to the ground.

" Wrong answer _Danny_!" The words were followed by a sharp kick in the ribs, then another and another, knocking the breath from him and keeping it out. He tried to get up, but a foot slammed into his back, driving him down and pushing him into the asphalt. Hands gripped both his shoulders and began pulling him up with the weight of the foot increasing. Danny's back bent, nearly to the point of breaking, until the hands let go allowing him to drop. The foot then lifted away and he was hauled back onto his knees - where he received a blow to the chest with an audible crack by the same instrument that must have struck his back. He doubled over in a fit of burning agony, still unable even to cry out. He was forced to straighten when someone jerked him upright by his collar, twisting it until it choked him. Once again, he was struck in the face.

" Did you plant evidence!"

Danny spat more blood. " No," he moaned. " I would never do that… not even to catch you guys."

The people around him laughed.

" You know Messer, you always were a wuss."

Through the haze, the pain, and fear, Danny still managed a small smile. " I thought you didn't remember me."

" Oh I remember you Messer. Mind you weren't worth remembering until you started busting in, finding stuff that would put away my pals. I let it slide, let you have your glory, just to see how far you could get. But to try and frame my cousin? Come on Messer, that's pretty low."

" You'd know all about that Bruno."

" Shut up Messer. You chose not to play fair, so we chose not to play fair either. Just a little fair play going on here. You know how it is."

" I didn't do it."

Someone gripped his arm at the elbow, pulling it away from his aching chest.

" We'll see."

Another pair of hands gripped his wrist. They straightened his arm out to his side, and Danny cringed, tensing for what was obviously coming next.

Something whistled through the air, then it struck his arm. Danny screamed when searing pain shot through his arm like bullets of fire and ice. Then it struck again, and the bones of his arm cracked loudly, echoing like a distant gunshot.

The accumulation of pain became too much for his mind to handle. Consciousness slipped from him like water though his fingers, and the voices of Bruno and his gang became strange echoes like something in a past dream.

" Did you plant evidence? We'll stop if you tell us the truth."

Danny's breath was ragged and shallow, but he managed a final word, spoken with absolute conviction.

" No."

" Well then, I guess we're done here. Give him his coat back. He might want to call for help… if he manages to wake up."

Danny was helped to the ground and positioned onto his back. He heard the laughter, but it faded away, as did everything else. His last coherent thought before slipping off involved finding his gun and shooting Bruno the moment he woke up. Just as soon as he woke up…


	5. Accusation ch 5

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

CSI NY

Ch. 5

Something was wrong. Mac did not know why he felt this way, but he did. He should not have though. Stella's call had been urgent, but the excitement in her voice had been brought hope. Now, as he paced outside the lab, waiting for Stella to finish whatever it was she was doing, he found his uneasiness increasing.

Stella came out of the lab, all smiles, and Mac stopped pacing.

" I found something," she said. " It wasn't easy, but it was there. A fragments too small to see on a black gun. Besides Ricky's skin alleles there was also something else, something dark I couldn't recognize. So I had it tested and the result… I'll skip the scientific names… it was leather. Black leather."

Mac went rigid. " Detective Ryan wears black leather gloves all the time."

Stella nodded vigorously. " Yep. But I don't know if it's enough to help. Aiden's still going through the case files, though. Maybe there's something there."

Flack walked up to them at that moment, seemingly agitated.

" You guys seen Danny lately? He was supposed to be here by now. I called his place but he didn't answer."

The uneasiness that had been haunting Mac suddenly returned. He immediately pulled out his own phone and dialed Danny. After too many rings, Mac hung up. As a CSI, there was not a moment, or a reason, when Danny didn't answer his phone.

" Dang it," Mac murmured. " Let's go to his place, see if he's there just not in the mood to talk."

" I'm coming with you," Stella said, removing her lab coat and setting it down on the nearest chair.

Stella rode with Mac while Flack took his own car. The first thing Mac noticed on arriving to Danny's apartment complex was Danny's car.

" Well, at least he's home," Mac said. Stella shook her head in bewilderment.

" But it's not like Danny to do something like this. At least he's never done something like this before."

" We don't know what he's doing. Maybe he's just late." But Mac highly doubted it.

They moved with urgency, though Mac could not understand the reasoning for it. He felt as though they were racing time, even though it would be Danny's own doing if he had chosen to stay home and avoid more questions.

Danny's place was on the second level on the right wing of the building. Mac reached the door first and pounded on it loudly.

" Danny. Danny! You there?"

He tried the knob, but the door was locked.

" I know this may not be the right thing to do," Flack said, switching places with Mac, " but maybe we should just let ourselves in."

Stella creased her brow. " You know how to do that?"

Flack studied the lock, then pulled two pins from his coat pocket. " This one guy I worked with showed me how. Says it comes in handy. Not really with cases though, jut to walk in on your girlfriend to, you know, see if she's being loyal."

Stella shook her head. " Sounds useful, but also very wrong."

" I've yet to use it in that manner myself."

He began working at the lock.

Mac's phone rang, and he answered it without hiding the irritation in his voice.

" Yeah?"

He heard harsh, ragged breathing on the other end, followed by a shallow cough.

" That you Mac?"

Mac stiffened. " Danny?"

Flack stopped picking the lock, and both he and Stella turned their heads.

" Danny where are you?"

Danny coughed again. Besides sounding raspy, Danny's breathing also sounded unsteady as though he was shivering violently.

" I – I'm not really sure right now boss. I can't see anything. I can't find my stupid glasses…" he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, following it up with a sound like a whimper or sob.

" I freakin' hurt all over Mac," he said after a time, when his breath finally returned to him. " I just hurt… everywhere. I can't move. It hurts when I move. I can't move… I keep trying…"

Fear swelled in Mac's chest. " Then don't. We'll come find you. Can you tell me… can you tell me, at least, if you're near any place we know, anything at all?"

" I was going home," Danny said. " I made it home. Then I was taken here. I don't think it's far… but I don't know. It was dark."

" That's enough for us. We'll come and find you. Don't move, but stay on the line."

" Right Mac," Danny said.

Mac lowered his phone. " Danny's nearby. We need to find him, now."

Mac headed back up the hall, with Flack and Stella trailing after in confusion.

" Should I call in some help?" Flack asked.

" Go ahead. But I don't want to wait for them. Get an ambulance here too."

Once outside, Mac put the phone back to his ear. " Danny, do you at least remember the direction you went?"

Danny coughed. " Yeah, left. We headed left. Then… left again at the nearest turn, and right… but that's all I remember."

Mac led the way. When they reached the point that Danny recalled, they split up, taking opposite directions. Mac stayed on the phone with Danny.

" What happened?"

" Bruno… Him and his buddies. Listen – Mac – I really don't feel too good…"

" Too bad, Danny, you need to stay on the line. Ramble if you have to."

" I think Tom planted the evidence."

" So do I," Mac replied, his heart racing a mile a minute. He went between buildings, peered down allies, and asked questions of people coming out of their homes. Where ever Danny was, it must be a secluded spot, or someone would have found him by now.

" I don't know why though," Danny went on, his voice sounding weaker. " I haven't figured that out yet."

" Aiden's working on it," Mac assured. He was moving faster, but his direction was too random. He left the alley he had just entered, moving around to the front of a building where a few people were emerging. He approached them quickly, pulling out his ID.

" Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen," he said, his voice steady and controlled as though this was a routine thing. Several people stopped to look at him either nervously or with irritation.

" I'm with the New York Crime Lab and I'm doing an investigation. Has anyone here seen or heard anything unusual last night, anything at all."

" I think I did," a middle aged African American woman nervously replied. " I thought I heard screaming. But sometimes kids come out here and do weird things, and the police don't like it when you keep calling them about nothing…"

Mac forced a calm smile, though inside he was torn with the desire to just take off and keep looking. " I understand ma'am."

" I heard it too," said a young woman dressed in business attire. " Totally freaked me out. Sounded like somebody getting murdered. Is that what this is about?"

" I hope not. Was it nearby?"

" Sounded like it," the young woman replied. " Not by our building, but still pretty near."

Mac nodded. " Thanks." He turned back into the alley he had been in and placed the phone back to his ear.

" Danny?"

No reply.

" Danny! Danny, pick this phone back up right now and talk to me!"

Mac moved quickly between the buildings. " Danny!"

" Mac."

Mac stopped. The voice had not been on the phone, but off to his left. He turned abruptly to see Danny standing with his left arm held against his chest by his right hand. His face was horribly bruised, cut, and caked with blood. His shirt was untucked, flecked with blood, and torn at the collar. He was pale as a corpse, and shivering fitfully, his breath coming shallow, quick, and unsteady.

" I thought…" He clamped his mouth shut for a moment, swallowing hard. The look in his eyes was not only one of pain, but fear. " I thought I'd try moving anyway. But I don't think I should have."

Mac was too stunned by Danny's appearance to respond, but not to move. He moved over beside him and helped to lower him to the ground onto his knees. Danny didn't have his coat on, and neither the sports jacket he always wore to work. Looking back the way Danny had come he didn't see them, so Danny must have gotten quite a few steps in before finding Mac. Mac removed his own coat and placed it carefully over Danny's back. Danny winced but that was all.

Mac then took his phone and called Stella.

" I found him."

He gave her directions as best she could, giving the address of the building where he had questioned the people, who he felt suddenly grateful for.

" Tell Flack. See if he can't get the ambulance here, and hurry," He finished.

Mac put his phone away and placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. " You still with me?"

With Danny doubled up almost in half, Mac had to bend closer to see Danny's face. His eyes were squeezed closed and his mouth shut so tight that his jaw kept twitching.

" Possibly," Danny managed to say between gritted teeth. Mac smiled.

" You'll be all right now, Danny. You'll make it."

" Wouldn't be the first time."

Mac paced the hospital corridor in short strides. Stella sat in a chair, while Flack opted to stand, leaning his back against the wall. The place was busy with doctors rushing about and patients being wheeled here and there, but it was easy for Mac to ignore it, and even managed without realizing it to stay out of the way of any nurses or doctors hurrying by.

" Bruno's going down for this one," Flack said with a dark scowl. " There's no way he can get away with this."

" Wouldn't be the first if he did," Mac said as a matter of fact. " He's gotten away with a lot."

" But not if we can help it," Stella said. " Danny said Bruno was there, personally. There's got to be something – in the alley, on Danny's clothes…"

" On Danny," Mac finished. Stella nodded solemnly.

When Mac next turned in his pacing, he looked up briefly to see Aiden hurrying toward them, carrying her camera and kit.

" I came quick as I could. How is he?"

Stella stood up from her seat. " He's alive, and he'll live. He had a concussion, some small internal bleeding, but the doctors got it."

" Have you seen him yet?"

" No," Stella replied. " But now you're here, so we're ready."

Discomfort showed on Aiden's face. " I don't like having to do this. It doesn't feel right."

" Just think about it as a way to help Danny," Mac said. He then led them to the room the doctor had said Danny would be in.

They found Danny awake but on the verge of falling asleep. He was in a hospital shift, but the partially turned down blankets revealed that he still wore his pants, most likely by his request. Danny always dressed in a professional way, and the thought of wearing nothing but underwear and a thin piece of material was probably loathing to him. The cuts on his face were sealed with butterfly bandages, and his arm was in a cast and sling. A nurse was there, waiting to assist in what Danny's friends needed to do.

" We're ready," Mac said. The nurse, a young woman with long, black hair, nodded.

Mac looked at Danny. " Ready for this? It won't be comfortable."

" I'm uncomfortable now," he said, turning his head slightly to look at Mac. He sat up with the nurse's help. Aiden took pictures of Danny's face then arm. The nurse untied the shift to expose his bent back. There was a dark, nasty bruise the width of his back, and a shoe-shaped bruise along the length between the shoulder blades. With Mac and the nurse's aid, Danny began straightening his back as much as he could.

The doctor had told them that many of Danny's ribs had been cracked, and one broken completely though luckily it had not damaged anything. The act of straightening caused sweat to bead on Danny's forehead and the fist of his good arm to clench and unclench. Mac had one hand on Danny's bicep, the other on his shoulder near his neck where he felt the younger man's pulse racing. But Danny made no sound of protest or agony, and kept his mouth tightly closed.

When Danny was as straight-backed as he could go, Stella placed an L-shaped ruler next to the foot-shaped bruise and Aiden took several pictures. When they finished, Aiden moved around to his front where she got pictures of a bruise on his chest similar to the one on his back.

" Looks wide, like maybe a baseball bat or something," Aiden commented. " Metal pipes don't usually leave that big a mark."

When they had finished, The nurse retied the shift and allowed Danny to lay back against the upraised bed.

Danny let out a shuddering sigh of relief. " That freakin' sucked," he quietly stated.

Mac clasped his shoulder reassuringly. " But it should be worth it."

Danny's fixed his darkened gaze ahead of him. " Did you check the alley?" He asked.

" Yes," Mac replied, remembering the flecks of blood on the street, walls, and coat, Danny's discarded gun, and his cracked glasses.

Danny's eyelids flickered in a futile fight against closing. Mac looked at Flack, Stella, and Aiden. They didn't need to hear any words to know what the look entailed.

" Rest up Danny," Stella said. " We need you back."

" We'll get these creeps," Aiden added. They then filed from the room, each one wearing his or her own troubled expression. Mac stayed behind for a moment, watching Danny, waiting to see if he had anything else to say before he slept. It was a sickening thing to think how close they had come to losing him. There was relief in knowing that he would be all right now, but the sickness lingered, fueling the anger that this had even happened at all.

" Don't even think it," Danny suddenly murmured.

" Think what?"

Danny took a deep breath, winced, and let it out slowly. " How pathetic or helpless I look. Don't even think it."

Mac smiled. " Danny, that's the last thing I would ever think when it comes to you."

Danny managed a smile small of his own. " Then do me a favor… make sure no one else thinks it. I'm not like that… never was."

Danny fell asleep against his will, and before any sign of peace settled over him he momentarily appeared angry about it. It would have seemed a comical thing to anyone else, but to Mac it was the complete opposite. It was a humiliation for Danny. Everything about this situation was. He was helpless, whether he liked it or not.

As Mac left the room, bitter thoughts slipped like oil into his mind. Somebody would pay for this, whether it was Bruno or the one who had planted the evidence. Danny would not lose this fight, not if Mac could help it. Being hurt made Danny seem helpless, but he was in no ways weak, not by any means. He did not deserve any of this. Someone _would_ pay.


	6. Accusation ch 6

Diclaimer: Okay, one more time, but that's it. I don't own CSI New York or anything CSIish

Note: Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou a million times over for your many comments. I'm so glad you're enjoying this story. I've had fun writing it.

CSI NY

Ch. 6

The lab was the only destination Mac had on his mind when he left the hospital. He felt anxious and energized enough to work through the night, even two nights, if he had to. He wanted to tear into the evidence, pick it apart down to its individual threads, and finally help Danny in a way other than standing in the background providing moral support.

His hope, however, was suddenly dashed the moment they all arrived back. A CSI from another team gave Mac a message that sent him veering away from the lab and straight to his office. On approach, he saw Detective Ryan through the window, pacing before his desk. The detective had one hand in his pocket, while the other hand deftly manipulated a quarter over his knuckles. With the slightest movements of the man's fingers the quarter seemed to hop back and forth in a silvery flash.

Mac knew of the trick well enough since he was also capable of it, though for him it took a little more effort. Tom didn't even bat an eye, let alone look at his hand, as he made the quarter dance.

Mac stored this information away at the back of his mind, not because he was impressed by the trick, but because the detective was capable of doing such a trick.

When Mac entered his office, Tom twisted his hand to snatch up the coin into his palm, but continued his nonchalant pacing.

" What's the situation?" he asked. Mac went behind his desk and slowly sat down as though this was nothing more than a routine visitation.

" What situation?"

" Messer. How is he?"

The lack of any real concern in Tom's voice bit at Mac's already fraying nerves.

" He's alive."

Tom, still pacing, flipped the coin and caught it. " When's he out?"

Mac folded his hands in his lap and leaned back in his chair. " Tomorrow. He's staying overnight for observation."

" Will he be able to come in for questioning?"

Mac sighed. The energy that would have fueled him in going over evidence was slowly seeping away. " Detective Ryan, you don't seem to appreciate the situation. Danny was attacked – viciously. His life might still be in danger. Tomorrow, I will be the one to pick him up, and I won't even be taking him to his own home. He'll have to stay elsewhere until this matter is resolved. I doubt – very much – that he will be fit to come in and have his life torn apart just because somebody else decided to be stupid…"

Tom tilted his head back, grinning. " You know, it's really nice, you standing by your buddy and all. But we really need to get this resolved. A lot of people are pretty ticked about it – and the wrong people are happy about it. A mistrial has been declared and Ricky's walking free. We're going to have to find something else to convict the kid for. So the sooner we get this little CSI _mistake_ out of the way the better. Wouldn't you say?"

Mac inclined his head slightly to one side speculatively. His initial reaction was to be angered, but it struck him as odd how cold the detective was being. No, not cold. Though Tom's pacing appeared casual, there was some stiffness to it. He paced for something more than out of the simple desire to pace.

There was also the detective himself. He was coming off as a creep, but before the incident with the evidence he had always been a rather tolerable guy. There had been no tension between him or any CSI he had worked with, and that included Danny. Danny, in turn, had never complained about him. Yet the way Tom acted now one would think they had had some nasty differences. Or, perhaps, he was just taking the evidence tampering a little too personally.

" I would say you're jumping to conclusions. When Danny is ready, he'll come back in. But I doubt he'll be ready tomorrow. Now, if you don't mind, I have something important I need to take care of. So are we done here?"

Tom stopped pacing and shrugged again, flipping the coin and catching it.

" Sure."

Without another word, Mac got up from his desk and left his office, brushing past Tom as though he was not there.

Mac was now free to think as he made his way to the lab. Though he could not be directly involved with the initial case of evidence planting, it did not mean he could not have his questions answered.

On arriving at the lab, he did not go in, merely open the doors. Stella and Aiden were both going over everything they had gleaned from the place where Danny had been beaten. Stella was studying Danny's blood-flecked shirt, and Aiden his coat. Mac cleared his throat and both women looked up from what they were doing.

" Pictures are developing as we speak," Aiden said.

" Good. Aiden, come here and talk with me a moment."

Aiden set down the coat and stepped around the table to the door. They stepped away from the lab and the doors to keep from obstructing anyone trying to get in or out.

" You went over the files concerning all cases involving Bruno's gang, right?"

" Yeah. And it wasn't quick either. They've done a lot of bad things over the years, let me tell you. Sad thing is none of them ever lead back to Bruno himself. He's been arrested now and then, yeah, but nothing that stuck. This guy really knows what he's doing."

Mac looked at the doors leading into the lab. " Exactly our problem." He looked back at Aiden. " Detective Tom Ryan handled some of those cases, right?"

" Actually he handled several of them."

" How did they go? Were any arrests made? Any convictions?"

Aiden lifted her brow as though realizing something. " No, actually. In fact, the way I read it, he seemed have a bad luck streak with every one of 'em. It's why he was never assigned to every, and any, case involving one of Bruno's boys. But they weren't easy cases either. Murder for the most part. At first, the trail would lead to Bruno's gang, then it would conveniently trail off and become the act of a rival gang."

Mac nodded thoughtfully. " Bruno's done evidence planting of his own."

" Probably. Hey, and you know what else? I kind of did a comparison. The cases against the Bruno gang that went well - the ones that involved a conviction – a few of those had Danny on forensics. Keep it in mind not all of them, but plenty. The ones that Danny did handle all got convictions. Every one."

Mac was not surprised. Danny had the advantage of gang experience. He knew the world of gangs, the deeper workings, so knew better than most what to look for.

" I went a little farther than that," Aiden continued, " just out of curiosity. Ryan _has _been involved in other gang-related cases but it's only the Bruno gang he's had trouble with. Everything else he's always managed to close the books on. Now I don't know Ryan personally but if he's got pride issues then Bruno must be sending him over the edge."

Mac looked at the doors to the lab then without a word went in.

" Stella, your turn," he said. Stella looked at him unblinkingly for a moment, then set down the shirt and joined Mac and Aiden outside the lab.

" What's up?" she asked.

" First off, Aiden? I want you to tell Stella everything you told me."

Aiden did so, and by the way Stella's eyebrow quirked Mac knew she was already on the same page.

" Our buddy Tom has more motive," Stella said, slowly nodding in understanding. " A heck of a lot more than Danny. At least Danny had the satisfaction of putting a few of those boys behind bars."

" I was reminded to day," Mac said, " of something Flack said when we were at Danny's apartment, about having learned something useful even if it wasn't for solving a crime. Tom has an interesting talent I'm pretty sure you're familiar with. You know that trick I do with the quarter?"

" Making it disappear or making it go over your fingers?" Stella asked.

" The last thing. Detective Ryan can do that as well. In fact he's better at it than me. It may not seem like something to note, but it's a trick mainly done by those who are excellent at slight of hand."

Now both of Stella's eyebrows quirked and a smile gradually spread on her lips. " Oh, I get it. Magician stuff. He had the means of setting that gun down without anyone seeing it and used it. Bet he had it up his sleeve the whole time. And I bet if we could get his coat and gloves, we might be able to find residue on it. That gun looked like he hadn't seen a good cleaning for a while."

Mac smiled back at her. " Then you'd better get on it. Aiden and I'll will handle Danny's case."

NYNYNYNY

Mac was in a quandary. He had picked up where Stella had left off with the shirt, and found nothing that she had not already discovered. The shirt was ripped at the collar, stained with dirt and flecks of blood, and had a faint imprint of a shoe on the back.

The only item new to discover came when Aiden brought the pictures of Danny's injuries to him. When the print on the shirt was measured it matched the bruise on Danny's back within a centimeter.

Aiden was also looking at the pictures over Mac's shoulder, her face slightly screwed in disgust and anger.

Mac could not help the same revulsion, though he did not reveal it facially. His anger, however, was now directed more at Detective Ryan than at Bruno. Bruno was a thug, and acted as thugs did. Tom was a cop, he should have known better; he should have had more consideration for the consequences of his actions. Most people went through life thinking their actions, right or wrong, only affected themselves, and found contentment in that. The harder truth was that actions went beyond the self, and there was no true way of knowing just how many would be affected, or how far it would go.

Ryan's actions had, thus far, affected only Danny. It was wrong in so many ways that it sickened Mac. He was used to seeing injustices, but that did not mean he was numb to them.

Mac looked from the pictures to the shirt, looking more closely at the areas where Danny had been struck. He found nothing more of relevance, but still he looked. Aiden went back to handling Danny's coat and jacket. After a time Mac joined her and they looked it over together.

" This really bites, you know that?" Aiden mumbled as she studied a clipping of cloth from the coat under a microscope. " Nobody's that good at hiding what they did."

Mac gave up on the coat and picked up Danny's broken glasses lying nearby. He lifted it to eye level, turning it this way and that, then setting it on the table to look at it more closely through a magnifying lens.

" Some people are geniuses at it. The vast majority of serial killers are only caught because they decided to go above the speed limit one day."

" So what we need is our own version of a traffic violation. Or, in other words, Bruno making a stupid mistake." Aiden snorted out a derisive laugh. " I bet he pins speeding tickets on one of his guys too."

" Probably," Mac replied. Two seconds later Stella walked in holding up Detective Ryan's coat triumphantly. Mac looked up from the lens.

" Wasn't easy," she said. " I went to Ryan, got a mouth full. Went to Alecson, told him everything, he went to the DA. She thought, and thought, and thought about it, then agreed and helped get the warrant." She practically slammed the coat onto the table, turning the sleeves and pockets inside out. She wiped them down with four different cloths, performed her tests, and smile triumphantly.

" Got him."

Mac smiled back at her. " Check Danny's coat when we're done here. Then confront Detective Ryan tomorrow."

Stella, still grinning like a cat with a mouse, bagged the evidence, including the coat. As she did so, she jerked her chin toward Danny's glasses.

" What about you two? Anything yet?"

Mac looked at Aiden; Aiden met his gaze and gave a one shouldered, helpless shrug.

" We're still working on it."


	7. Accusation ch 7

Disclaimer: Note to self, I do not own CSI.

Someone's finally going to get it.

CSI NY

Ch.7

The smugness had gone from Tom. He sat tersely across from Flack, Alecson, and Stella who stood at the back as though waiting in the shadows to pounce. Stella had witnessed Tom's self-certainty start its decline the other day when she had given him the warrant for his coat, backed by Alecson. Now Detective Ryan was where he was supposed to be, and where Danny had been not too long ago.

" … You have a pretty bad track record with Bruno and his boys," Alecson said. He had the files concerning the Bruno cases that Tom had handled. " And to think I was accusing Messer of having a grudge. You seem to have good reason for carrying around a pretty big one yourself."

Tom was pale, and his hands folded on the table clenched until they were white.

" Who doesn't have something against these guys?" he asked irritably. " I'm not the only one…"

" Yet gun residue was found inside your coat as well as on your gloves, while at the same time none was found anywhere on Danny Messer's coat, or jacket, or shirt. The clothes he wore that day were clean. Yours tell a different story."

Tom could go no paler than he already was. They pretty much had him, but that did not mean he would not stop trying to defend himself.

" No one witnessed me setting the gun down…" he started in lamely.

" Oh come on, detective. Were you being watched every second? Was someone observing your every move? I hear tell you're a good slight of hand. Of course it doesn't take a magician to let a gun slip out of a sleeve the brief second all eyes are turned away."

Tom's eyes darted about nervously as he thought fast, with nothing apparently coming.

Watching him, Stella became infuriated. The guy was law enforcement, trained to face the possibility of death, and this guy didn't even have the guts to face up to his stupidity.

She had an idea why this was, however. He was scared, not simply of losing his job, the possibility of going to jail, and having a tainted career for the rest of his life, but also of the prospect of having to face up to Bruno and his gang. They would learn of this, just as they had learned of Danny, and they would want their own confession.

This made Stella's blood boil and heart beat fast in anger.

" Come on man," Alecson continued. " I mean what were you thinking? The punk wasn't even worth it."

Tom opted to remain mute.

Stella rolled her eyes and strode stiffly forward. She reached beneath the files and pulled the pictures of Danny's injuries, tossing them across the table for Tom to see.

" Is that what you're afraid of?" She asked harshly. Tom tried not to look at the pictures, but his eyes flickered to them all the same.

" You afraid of Bruno, Ryan?" Alecson asked.

" Yeah, Tom," Flack added. " You afraid of a little confession beating? Hey, it's not like they really kill you. Danny survived it, so I bet you won't have a problem."

Stella leaned on the table with arms stiff and fingers spread. " Actually, they won't even touch him. He'll have protection, probably be in jail. We know what Bruno and his boys are capable of, and we can't have that happening again. It should though. You're the one who deserves it Tom. You let this happen to Danny. I mean, crap, you might as well have been the one to throw the first punch. You know, if I didn't know any better, I say you were working with that gang. I mean you both seemed to have it in for Danny and all he did was his job."

Tom still did not respond, though his face twitched and his eyes began to narrow with anger.

Stella still had plenty of aces. She reached back under the files and pulled out another picture, this one obtained as a favor. It was an X-ray of Danny's arm, the ghostly image of the bone split in two and disaligned. She stalked over to Tom and held the picture up to the light.

" Look at it Tom," she demanded. He hesitated.

" Now!" She snapped. Tom slowly turned his head to look up at the picture, then quickly looked down at the table.

" This supposed to send me on some kind of guilt trip or something?" he asked petulantly. Stella set the X-ray down.

" Whatever works, right?" she said. " You know, as far as I'm concerned, you're the one who did this, so you should be the one going to jail. You're no better than Bruno, no better than his lackeys. You're a coward and a creep, and if I had my way I'd leave you to Bruno. Hey, maybe he'll do us all a favor and kill you."

Flack shook his head. " You planted evidence, Ryan. And to get who, Ricky? Some snot-nosed relative? Don't you have any freakin' pride?"

Tom rolled his eyes and mumbled a curse.

" I doubt it," Alecson said. " He's jealous of Danny. That's why he let him take the heat, and why he was so happy about it. You're jealous of Danny, aren't you Tommy."

Tom shook his head from side to side. " We weren't going to get these guys…"

" But you were working with Danny," Stella said. " He knew these guys. He always got one of them every case he worked. If you'd just waited…"

Tom's annoyed gaze shot up at her. " Waited? I waited with those other CSI you sent me, and they didn't find jack. They're always getting away, always…" he trailed off, and did not speak again for a moment. He had yet to ask for a lawyer, and most likely wouldn't out of pride. Stella found it both odd and rather amusing that a man with this much egotism would risk his career, yet be too afraid to face up to it when the time came. It made her wonder if the real reason Detective Ryan did not do well on Bruno gang cases was not because of the CSI, but because of his own lack of courage. She would have to pick Mac's brain about that later.

" They're screw-ups," he murmured at last. " They don't get it right."

Stella began gathering up the pictures, feeling as though Tom did not have the right to look at them, though he deserved the guilt of them.

" Well, at least we do our job right," Stella said.

NYNYNYNY

It was a quiet ride from the hospital with Danny sitting hunched in the passenger seat, staring with vacant weariness out the window. He was wearing fresher clothes, including pants, with one arm of his jacket hanging empty and waving slightly to the movements of the car. Danny was still heavily medicated, so his awareness was cut in half, but only half. He was still coherent.

Finally, Mac decided to break the silence. " I don't know when you'll be able to return home. We'll have officers there waiting to see if any of Bruno's men stop by to see if you're around."

Danny turned his head, letting it rest against the window. The bruised eye was still swollen so that the eyelid could not fully open. " I've got fish to feed," he said. " And there's this cat that kind of hangs around the fire escape outside my window. He's not really an official pet. But I let him come in sometimes, and I feed him. He likes raw beef."

Mac grinned at this. He had never quite imagined Danny as a cat person, let alone an animal person. He wasn't much of either himself.

" So who's stuck with me?" he asked. " Or is it a hotel I'll be staying at."

" No hotel," Mac replied. " I have a guest room, so might as well let someone use it."

Danny grimaced slightly but managed a brief smile. " Dang. I was hoping for a hotel, one of those nice ones that cost too much."

Mac glanced over at Danny, and saw discomfort in his features. It wasn't the discomfort of pain, not with the medicines he'd been injected with. Right now he probably didn't feel much of his body below his neck, or maybe even higher.

" No offense Mac," he said. " But I really just wanna go home."

Mac sighed. " Sorry Danny, not until we're certain. Just a few days, I promise. You know Bruno. He may decide he's not done with you, and he knows where you live. We just need to play it safe."

Danny moved his head some in a nod, but was still apparently unhappy about the whole matter. Mac understood. It was another humiliation for Danny. Not only had Bruno made him an invalid but had driven him from his home as well. It was as though Bruno was taking hold of every aspect of Danny's life, something Danny was all too familiar with. It was something he had thought he'd escaped. Now it was being shoved back in his face.

They fell back into silence, with Danny rolling his head to the side to look miserably out the window like a prisoner being dragged off to jail. It made the silence uncomfortable, even to Mac who had become somewhat used to silence (though never fully).

" So - this cat - you have a name for him?"

" Fish breath."

" I thought you said you fed him beef?"

" Doesn't stop his breath from smelling like fish."

Mac couldn't help a quiet chuckle at this.

" You're never gonna catch these guys," Danny suddenly said.

" Hey, you never know. Everyone makes a mistake eventually."

Danny lifted his head off the window. " Not Bruno. You got that footprint off my back. Okay, that might catch one of 'em. But that's all we ever get is one. They were wearing gloves when they hit me; I felt it. They've probably burned them by now, along with the stuff they hit me with. They know how to get rid of evidence. They know how to make what they did disappear."

Mac did not like where Danny was going with this. " You're not giving up already, are you?" But when he glanced at Danny, he saw on the CSI's face a thoughtful expression.

" No, just considering something."

" What?"

Danny turned his head more to look directly at Mac. " A possibility."

Mac wrinkled his brow. " What do you mean?"

Danny looked away again, the unease returning. " Can't turn your back on your past forever."

This statement made Mac suddenly nervous. " You plan on testifying against Bruno, of what he did to you when you were a kid? You know what that means…"

Danny shook his head. " No. Bruno gave the order, not the beating. Even with the beating now, I never saw his face, and juries are into vocal recognition much."

" Then what are you thinking?"

Danny looked down at his arm cradled in the sling and encased in the cast.

" Tennessee."

Mac gave Danny a perplexed look. " The State?"

Danny smiled. " The snake from the south."

End of Part 1

New chapters will come, but it may be some time. I'm still working out a few things and deciding what I want to happen next. So please be patient with me if it seems to be taking forever for another chapter to come in.

Just who is this snake? What is Danny talking about? Answers will come I promise.


	8. Accusation part two ch 8

Disclaimer: CSI I do not own, so now I think I will go home. Lest you refuse to leave me alone, I say it again - CSI I do not own.

Note: To all my readers, you rock! Thanks a bunch for reading and commenting. I'm glad you're enjoying this. If the next chapters are slow to come, it's because I'm trying to work out just how I want this to end. (I know how it's going to end, I just need to make it more interesting.)

CSI NY

Part Two: Ch. 8

It was a pain in the butt driving with one arm, and Danny still had a ways to go. He finally gave up and at the next light took the time to remove the sling. He didn't really need it after all except to prevent himself from whacking his arm into something. He would put it back on when he arrived.

It had taken a lot of talking to convince Mac to allow Danny to retrieve his own car. But then it had taken a lot of talk to convince Mac to let him do this at all. It was a precarious situation, one that forced Danny to remain tight-lipped about most of it. All he could tell Mac about the man named Tennessee was that he was an old friend, one Danny still kept in touch with, and one that 'knew a thing or two.'

Mac, in turn, was wary and of course wanted to know more. But Danny, though loathing at having to do so, kept quiet. He hated this, having to keep secrets, having to hide so much, but there was too much at stake for him to do otherwise. He tried to explain this to Mac as best he could, all while staring vacantly at a plate of untouched pizza the medication would not allow him to eat, so his words had little affect.

What finally changed Mac's mind was the news that the cops were rounding up Bruno's cronies and closing in on Bruno himself. Having them in custody would not last for long, however, since the only thing they had on them was Danny's word, something that would not hold up in court without concrete evidence. They didn't have much time.

So, after calling in a little back up and having Danny's car checked over more than once, Mac reluctantly let Danny seek out this phantom friend of his.

Danny had to smile thinking back on Mac's choice of words. No other word could describe Tennessee more correctly. He was a straight-up southerner, originating from Texas but having lived in just about every southern state possible. In the years he had known Tennessee, Danny had never learned why it was the old man had come to New York. Like Danny, he leaned toward keeping the past buried only in his mind, and only hinted at things in a way that let people know he wasn't talking about it any further. Whenever Danny had asked, Tennessee would respond the same way "bad things happen, and I don't like stickin' around for it."

Back during Danny's "unsavory" days when running with the Tanglewood gang, Tennessee had been a mole. Not a mole planted by the police, but a mole from some rival conglomeration unknown even to this day. Tennessee could have been working for anyone, and was so skilled at what he did that there was no way of finding out for certain.

In truth, Danny always believed that Tennessee had worked for himself. His way involved buddying up to several members of a certain gang, gaining their trust, opening them up, and scrounging every last speck of info he could from them. He would take anything, from who the real ringleader was to which member was cheating on his girlfriend. He would then sell useful information for a price. One might think the occupation a hazardous one since snitches rarely survive long in a gang. The fact was, Tennessee was totally immune, and he knew it. Gangs practically kill for info about another gang, but Tennessee's method was cheaper and less messy. Besides, most of what Tennessee learned was harmless, stuff to be used to cause trouble for a rival. The big stuff he kept to himself, because he refused to be responsible for bloodshed. He liked watching people squirm, not writhe in agony as he once put it.

All this Danny knew of because Tennessee did have one weakness, and that was to brag. But Tennessee had trusted Danny because Danny, punk kid that he had been, had been respectful to Tennessee. He had liked the man's accent, and Tennessee had a way of looking out for the younger members of gangs and mobs. He liked to try to talk them out of what they were doing. He liked to try to convince them to leave. And though Danny's reasons for changing his life involved much more, Tennessee's little warnings had had their place. Tennessee, in turn, liked to check up on Danny, because Danny was the only one (as far as Tennessee was concerned) that had listened. If others had left, Tennessee didn't know about them, because they hadn't been worth knowing for very long to begin with.

The last letter old Tennessee had sent Danny contained a new address far from Brooklyn. He had a house now instead of a run down apartment that always smelled like cat-urine. The street he lived on that Danny was now turning onto was lined by small houses packed close together, with chain-link fence yards both in the front and back. But they were nice houses, and a few were well kept with uncluttered green yards and hyperactive dogs chained to poles.

Tennessee's home was ten houses down. It was painted sky-blue with a covered porch and a freshly mowed lawn. A whicker chair twitched slightly in a small breeze, and a wind-chime made of seashells tapped out a tuneless song.

Danny parked and took a moment to replace the sling, which was a lot more complicated than it had seemed. After several winces and silent curses, he finally had it on and stepped from the car, heading toward the fence. When he came up to the gate he was greeted by a large brown form scrambling down the steps of the porch, releasing a piercing wail of a bark and jumping onto the gate.

Danny stepped back nervously as the bloodhound bellowed and sniffed at the air where Danny had been standing a few seconds earlier. It was scrabbling so furiously at the gate that Danny feared it would climb over any second and either maul him or cover him in slobber. One could never tell with dogs.

Just then the door of the sky-blue house opened and a man well into his sixties stuck his silver-gray head out.

" Cody you loud-mouthed lunk-head, knock it off!"

Tennessee stepped all the way out the door, wearing slacks supported by suspenders and a somewhat off-white shirt. He had his hands in his pockets as he made his way to the gate, squinting at Danny curiously. He slowed has he approached, recognition gradually dawning. They may have kept in touch, but they hadn't seen eachother in years.

" Danny?" he said in a drawl he had always said was a mix of Texan, Mississippi, and who knew what else. " Danny Messer, boy, that can't be you." He continued to look Danny over as he grabbed Cody by the collar and hauled him back.

" Dang, man, what the hell happened to you? Someone use you as a punching bag?"

Danny smiled. " Something like that. How you been TJ?"

Tennessee's middle name was James, and rather than forcing people to say his name, he insisted on being called TJ.

Cody whined and struggled against the restraint. Tennessee held him while he opened the gate to let Danny in.

" Not bad, not bad at all. Dang, Messer, never thought I'd see you in the flesh again."

Cody reared up, pulling against Tennessee's hold. Danny held out his hand for the dog to sniff and lick. Satisfied, Cody stopped his struggling and Tennessee let him go. The hound continued to sniff about Danny's feet, wagging its tail as it circled about. When Tennessee led Danny up the walk, Cody followed by Danny's side.

" I call him a lunk-head," Tennessee was saying, " but he's brighter 'an most dogs. He knows when to quit, you see, and If I ain't scared then he ain't got his hackles up, know what I mean? He's a good dog, he really is."

Tennessee began climbing the steps to the porch, but slowed to look over his shoulder at Danny. " So, just what brings you here? Something tells me this isn't a simple social call."

Danny looked down uncomfortably at the ground, scratching Cody's head when the dog began nosing at his hand as though he held a treat.

" No, it isn't."

They continued onto the porch then into the house. Tennessee took Danny down a short hallway with a wall full of pictures, then left into the living room. It was cluttered with boxes, papers, books, old newspapers, and little odds and ends collected throughout Tennessee's life such as several Texas mugs, an ash tray made out of a cow's foot, and a set of deer antlers dusted in cobwebs. The couch was on the left, with a rocking chair adjacent to it, and a bookshelf modified to hold the TV, VCR, and movies on the right. Between both was a coffee table buried in boxes and papers. Through a door on the right of the bookshelf was the kitchen with its lime-green glass table and padded chairs covered in rips and frays.

" Sorry about the mess," Tennessee said. " Of course, had I known you were coming… it'd still be here," he laughed. Danny smiled. Tennessee's humor had been a major part of him winning himself into everyone's good graces.

Tennessee cleared some of the junk away, then pulled the rocking chair so that it was facing the couch.

" Need any help?" Tennessee asked, still standing.

Danny shook his head, leaning on the arm of the couch as he slowly lowered himself into sitting, wincing with the effort. Tennessee removed some more junk, clearing a space on the coffee table.

" How about something to drink then."

Danny nodded, and Tennessee went to get some drinks without even asking what Danny wanted.

Medication prevented pain from being unbearable, but it did not always stop it. Though still unable to straighten, Danny went momentarily rigid as discomfort throbbed through his back, his fingers digging into the arm of the chair. This happened every time he sat, and took a moment to pass. When it began to abate, his muscles slowly relaxed, and he took a slow, shallow breath.

The dog seemed aware of his discomfort and laid his wrinkled head on Danny's leg, looking up with forlorn eyes. Danny couldn't help a small quiet laugh though it made his ribs throb. He scratched behind Cody's floppy ears.

When Tennessee returned, he was carrying a glass of milk in one hand, and ice-tea in the other. He set the milk before Danny as he sat himself down in the rocking chair. Again, Danny allowed another small laugh despite the throbbing it caused.

Tennessee smiled. " I know, I know, you ain't a kid no more. But you've got broken bones, and for all I know you've been drinkin' that pointless skim-milk crap. Seems to be all the rage today, drinking things that don't do you no good."

Danny looked at Tennessee's own glass. " And I suppose what you're drinking is just regular tea, right?"

Tennessee lifted the glass, grinning behind it, and winked. He took a small sip, smacked his lips, and set it down. " So then… shall we?"

He gestured at Danny, his eyes fixed on Danny's bruised face with the half-shut eye.

Danny looked at the glass of milk for a moment. Condensation was forming on it, dripping down the sides to gather about the base creating a near-perfect ring.

" I need… to ask you a favor…"

Tennessee sat back in the rocking chair. " Just so we're sure on a few things," Tennessee said, " when you told me what you planned on going into, you made me a little promise. You said you wouldn't get me involved in anything. I'm retired now, and I've yet to have any trouble. I don't want any trouble, Danny."

Danny looked up at Tennessee, fixing his gaze. " You also made me a promise, TJ. Once I got out, you told me something, remember?"

Tennessee leaned forward, taking another sip from his glass, then sat back and nodded. " Yep. Is that what happened to you then? Someone come after you? Who was it, one of the Tanglewoods?"

Danny shook his head. " Bruno."

Tennessee's face darkened. " What for?"

Danny then explained the situation to Tennessee, about the evidence being planted and Bruno seeking Danny out for a "confessional" beating. Tennessee snorted derisively, shaking his head in disbelief.

" And I bet the whole time they were laying you out," Tennessee remarked, " they were goin' on 'an on about not messin' with family or some bull like that."

Danny shrugged. " Something like that. I don't really remember that much."

Tennessee took another drink, then nodded at Danny's glass. " Best drink that. I don't like things going to waste."

Danny took the glass, eyeing Tennessee suspiciously. " You didn't do anything 'special' to it, did you?"

Tennessee laughed a dry, wheezing laugh. " Boy, I only gave you a drink from that bottle that one time to help with the pain when you had your arm broken in that fight. And believe me when I say I didn't want to, but it's not like you took to it or anything. Heck, the way your eyes tried to pop out of the sockets I thought I'd killed you. But you were just a kid, a scrawny little stick of a kid too. You were in so much dang pain I had to do something. No one else was going to."

Danny nodded, remembering. " I know," and took a drink.

Tennessee took another sip himself. He then sighed, jerking the glass to make the liquid whirlpool and the ice clink. " I did mean it Danny. That promise I made? I did mean it. You were getting out and I was happy about that. I didn't want any of these boys coming around, trying to pull you back in, ruining your life. The thing was, after a certain time, I kind of stopped believing it might happen, especially when you became part of forensics. I thought - no one'll mess with a guy who can figure out who did something just by looking at a speck of dust in a microscope. You always were smart Danny. You had a quick mind. Hell, you figured me out long before anyone else. And you were curious, like a regular kid should be. Was no surprise when you got into forensics, no surprise to me at all."

Tennessee extended his small finger away from his glass to point at Danny. " You also have a heart unlike some of these SOBs. It's part of why I liked you; the other part being you didn't hand my back-end on a silver platter over to your leader. Not that he would have cared. I gave him stuff just as much as with the rest of 'em."

Danny set his own glass down, then wiped the moisture from his hand onto his knee.

" I kind of forgot about the promise too," Danny said. " But then this happened, and I remembered. You have to understand TJ; I'm not really doing this for myself. We have to put Bruno away. We have to get him. He's going to bring more in, just so he can hide behind them… It's gotta stop."

Tennessee took a long, deep breath, then released it slowly through his mouth. " Well, Danny, there are some things I can tell you that would help. But I cannot, and I mean cannot, testify against them. If I do that, you know what will happen. The immunity will be gone. People will start gettin' scared, thinkin' I'll rat on them next. My life…" he laughed nervously, " my life will be over, literally. I was hopin' I'd die back in Texas, from old age, buried under sand. Not here, Danny… not here."

Danny nodded. " I know. I'm not asking you to step forward. Just give me something, no matter how small, I can use against them. Anything at all. Is there someone else who'll talk, something they mess up on we haven't caught?"

Tennessee rubbed his chin that was pale with white stubble. " See, now you're talkin' my style. Bruno, he had so many comin' and goin' from his team that it wasn't hard to warm up to one or two seeing as how they didn't know me right off the cuff. Do few favors, run a few errands, buy them plenty of drinks, and you wouldn't believe the garbage they spit. Bruno was a little smarter than that. He liked my services as it were, but he knew better than to flap lip around me. Not his boys, though. It's why I always try to drink moderately myself. Alcohol tends to make a man into a moron, not to mention a wind-up toy with an overactive voice box."

" Anyway, the thing about Bruno is – and why he's such a worm to catch – is that he's your basic coward. He was so busy trying to save his own hide that he couldn't rise into something that should be feared by other gangs. Cops and you CSI might not be laughing now, but he was somewhat of a joke in the crime world back when. From what I hear now and then, he's clawed his way to the top of the heap but not out of the junkyard. That beating he gave you, it was at night, right? In the darkest place possible so you couldn't see faces let alone forms?"

Danny nodded. Tennessee scratched his jaw with an audible scrape.

" Yeah, Bruno knows how to keep it under wraps." Tennessee then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, gesturing with one finger and grinning like a cat.

" Here's the thing though. You were a Tanglewood. Bruno hates those Tanglewood punks more than anything. Your old gang took risks, got a name quicker than Bruno could blink. For Bruno it took time. Bruno was jealous, and it was the only thing he ever talked about, gettin' back at them Tanglewood boys."

Danny shifted uncomfortably, once again remembering. Tennessee noticed this, and reached out his hand to pat Danny's good arm sympathetically.

" Not easy stuff to look back on, I know. I still get these rather unpleasant images stuck in my mind of those times when I had to carry you to the hospital." Tennessee shook his head. " I remember this one time – and I know I probably shouldn't bring it up and I'm sorry for it, but it won't go away – I found you outside, and you were so bloody and broken I thought you were dead. You almost were too; you were having so much trouble breathing. I never forgot that."

Danny furrowed his brow in consternation, his insides feeling as though they were writhing and twisting. " Bruno ordered it. Did you know that? I just found that out, just this week, while I was having my life picked apart for something I didn't do. "

Tennessee shook his head. " I had my suspicions, but I was weaselin' into your gang at the time, so never was sure. No good times there. We'd best get off this road then. Some things are best left forgotten. But I did need to bring some of it up. You see Danny, you're recent attack, it wasn't about what happened with the evidence. It was a chance to get back at an old enemy. I'm certain of this. Bruno couldn't care less than he already does what happens to family. He just used it as a reason. Now, listen close to this next part. Bruno may seem slippery as a wet snake but he does have one weakness. He likes to keep souvenirs."

Danny jerked his head in alarm. " You mean like body parts?"

Tennessee shook his head vehemently. " No, no, too much evidence to follow in body parts. He's discreet, remember? He'll take what won't be noticed even by forensics like yourself. Something like a- a movie ticket, or a library card, maybe a piece of clothing or a calling card. Was anything missing after you were attacked? Gloves, your glasses…?"

Danny thought back and shook his head. " No, nothing."

Tennessee sat back in the rocking chair, causing it to creak. Cody had removed his head from Danny's knee and was now stretched sleeping on the other side of the coffee table.

Tennessee looked up at the ceiling as he thought then lowered his gaze to look at Danny. He leaned in, studying Danny's face.

" They got you pretty good. Were the hits pretty hard?"

Danny grimaced slightly. " Felt like they were using a hammer."

Tennessee nodded. " Well, they usually use bats, metal bats, but for the body and not the face. If it was Bruno doing the face, chances were he was wearing something. He had gloves on, right?"

Danny nodded again.

" Of course. Keeps the blood off the hands. Bruno likes to make his hits count, you see, so he was probably wearing something else, like knuckle brass. I've seen what those can do, though, and it doesn't look like he used those on you. He did use something though, I can tell. I've seen the after math of a few of his personal fights. He liked to have me present to make a statement about me keeping my mouth shut, but if death threats couldn't stop me then neither was a beating. Anyway, the other little instrument he likes to use is like knuckle brass but flat and wider. Keeps damage to the hand minimal so that the bruising on the knuckles isn't as severe as on the face. But it does do plenty of damage. From all the cuts and stitches on your face I would say there was quite a lot of blood. Now, being the careful one, he wouldn't take anything off your person that could be traced back to you. And I've discovered if he can't take that, he'll take something else – like blood."

Danny widened his eyes in disbelief. " Blood?"

Tennessee nodded. " Yep, whatever happened to get on the glove he was wearing."

" But…" Danny's spine stiffened, causing him to sit up, but moved too fast, creating pain that burned through his chest and back so that he doubled over for a moment.

" You okay Danny?" Tennessee asked, about to stand.

Danny looked up, waving him back down. " No, I'm fine. No way would Bruno have something like that just lying around or even hidden. He's not that stupid."

Concern still apparent on his face, Tennessee shrugged. " He likes to have something to show off, to reminisce on I suppose you could say. But you were a Tanglewood boy once, and no ticket or library card is going to suit him. He would want something more, and nothing seems a better trophy than a glove covered in your blood."

Danny attempted to sit up, careful about not straightening. Until his ribs and sternum healed, his posture would remain a mother's worst nightmare. He looked at Tennessee skeptically.

" So, you're telling me he has my blood – evidence of me getting beat - lying around somewhere?"

Tennessee finished off the last of his drink, thumping the glass back onto the table. " No, not just lyin' around for all the world to see. He'd put it somewhere out of sight, just until the heat was off. When it's safe, he'll get it, show it off to his buddies, and brag about what he did to a Tanglewood, slash CSI. Two for the price of one type of situation, you see. CSI is just as good as a cop."

" So where would he have it? Buried in his back yard?"

Tennessee sighed. " There in lies the problem. No, he wouldn't bury it. Too easy to find with the disturbed dirt. Wouldn't hide it anywhere near his place, actually. Come on, now, Danny, you're the investigator. You tell me where'd he put something like that. It's the worst kind of evidence against him."

Danny turned the glass of milk as he thought. " Not really. Even if we found the gloves, it doesn't mean they were his. He likes to pin things on people if you didn't recall."

Tennessee held up a finger like a teacher making a point. " Yes, but I told you he was most likely wearing something when he was pounding you. His hands may have fewer bruises afterwards, but they are bruised, and maybe even cut. The metal has a bite to it, especially if Bruno still has those thick hands of his."

Danny's heartbeat picked up, but he still had yet to be hopeful. " Okay then, assuming he used something and cut his hand – it's all still assuming. And where would he put this souvenir? It would have to be where he could find it again. I suppose he could give it to someone to hide, but every one of Bruno's guys are under suspicion. If he wants my blood that bad he's not going to lose them as evidence. He'll want them where they can't possibly be found."

" Exactly," Tennessee said. " He sometimes hid his trophies in plain sight. But if he couldn't do that, he'd put it where no one would possibly look, 'cause there'd be no reason too."

Danny was already thinking over Bruno's many acquaintances, his hangouts, close friends, relatives. Then Danny had a thought.

" You know, there is one guy we won't be looking at, since he wasn't even there. Bruno's cousin Ricky was still in custody at the time. He'd be released now, and arrests are just starting. Bruno tends to be the last one arrested. He would have time to hide the evidence. And since he probably has to move quick, and because Ricky isn't under suspicion…"

Tennessee grinned. " It's like I said, you always were a smart one. But you said so yourself these were mere assumptions. Will it be enough? 'Cause I really don't know what more I can give say that."

Danny smiled gratefully. " No, it'll do fine. You gave me something to go on, it's all I needed, so I can deal with the rest."

He then extended his hand, and Tennessee took it in a firm shake.

" Thanks TJ. You kept you're promise, and I'll keep mine, just until the next gang decides to pound me into the pavement."

Tennessee laughed heartily, sitting back. " And I'll spill the beans, you can be sure of that. You should come visit more often, Danny. It's nice seeing you again. And it'd be nice seeing you without the nasty make-over."

Danny shook his head. " Might look bad with me being CSI. If you got people watching, waiting for you to talk, it might make them start wondering. We'd better just stick with the letter writing."

Tennessee's smile became wry. " I plan on moving back to Texas fairly quick here if you haven't noticed. I'm a little homesick for wide open spaces, and it should be safe to go home by now." He winked. " By the time they catch on all they'll see of me is a fading dust trail as I drive off into the sunset."

Danny grinned. " Maybe I will stop by then. Got any good memories to talk about?"

" A few here and there."

Danny became solemn, though he tried not to. " It'd be nice to look back on some of those for a change."

Tennessee nodded in knowing. " You should try to more often, else you're end up all pessimistic like me."

Danny picked up his glass and downed the rest of the milk in several swallows and a single breath. When he finished, he wiped his mouth and pushed the glass away.

" I never took you for a pessimist, TJ."

Tennessee chuckled. " Bruno ain't the only one who knows how to hide a few things. Just remember Danny, you can't hold it all in forever. Sometimes you have to look back and remember. After all, in your line of work, I would think it would come in pretty handy."


	9. Accusation ch 9

Disclaimer: I already said it in the other chapters.

CSY NY

Ch. 9

It was another silent drive for Mac and Danny, but a silence brought about by anticipation as they led the way to Ricky's home in Brooklyn. There was a shared feeling of urgency, but no one could have been feeling it more than Danny. Mac observed him out of the corner of his eye, noting his inability to sit still and the way his eyes darted in search of the familiarity that would tell them they were coming in on Ricky's place. Danny had not been this alert for days, though it was probably causing some discomfort. Mac had a feeling Danny had sacrificed some of his medication just so he could be more clear-headed.

Though Mac felt just as tense, his own anticipation was tempered, and his hopes put on a leash. From all that Danny had told him (excluding the mysterious friend), it all sounded like a long shot. This was supposition based on intel that was gathered a long time ago. Things might have changed since then; Bruno's caution might have been honed to a point that he no longer even risked taking souvenirs. However, as Danny had put it after Mac had told him all this, it was all they had. Danny trusted his friend, Mac trusted Danny, and there seemed no harm in at least trying.

When Mac agreed, Danny then insisted that he come as well, just in case Ricky wasn't home. Danny may have run with another group, but he still knew the territory, especially old hangouts and the like. He also knew Ricky, having investigated him and all. Mac could not deny the merit of Danny's presence in this matter.

" We're almost there," Danny announced. They were pulling into a neighborhood made up of a mixture of old apartments and shops. Being daytime, there was life on the streets, with people coming, going or just hanging on stoops, under canopies, or in the stores themselves. Mac pulled up in front of a red-bricked place with rusting window frames and a few cracked windows.

Mac stepped from the car to be joined by Flack and another police officer. Danny remained in the car, watching them as they entered the building. Ricky lived with his mother on the third floor, according to Danny. And though Ricky was a pushover in the worst kind of way, his mother was anything but.

Inside, the place seemed more like an old hotel with a fading red carpet marked in flowery patters, and wallpaper with a similar design but different colors. Everything about the place smelled old, touched here and there with an odor like bad milk.

When they came to the door, Mac stepped to one side and Flack the other, just in case Ricky got it in his head to throw the door open and bolt. Flack knocked.

" Ricky McCalister?" he called.

" Who is it who would like to know?" Came a petulant, elderly female voice with a slight accent Danny had said was Greek.

" NYPD, Ma'am," Flack said.

There came the rattle and click of locks, and the door swung open, revealing a plump woman with brawny arms, a slightly wrinkled face, and dark brown hair tied back in a bun with strands coming loose. She was wearing a plain apron over a flowered button shirt and a pair of black sweat pants. She placed her hands firmly on her wide hips as she looked from Flack, to the cop, to Mac.

" We're just here to talk with Ricky, ma'am," Flack said. " That's all."

Mrs. McCalister brushed hair irritably away from her face. " Just talk? That's all you want is to talk? Ha! I give you something to talk about. You want to arrest my boy again. You want to pin something else on him. No, you want him to talk about things. Well, he has nothing to talk about."

She was about to close the door when Mac reached out and stopped it.

" Actually, ma'am, we just want to talk, nothing more. No interrogations…"

Mrs. McCalister jerked the door back open. " That's what they all say, all cops. We just wanna to talk, we just wanna talk. Then, they drag my son away, lock him up, then mess up their own case just to make him suffer. My son has already talked. He talked to two others just like you, another cop and that skinny young man in glasses. Now you come in here like you own this city, you with your skinny cop friend… and another cop! What is this? You said you just wanted to talk. Why bring another, huh?" She shook her head, wearing an expression of pure loathing. " Talk. Do you even know how to just talk? Or are you going to force my son to say something he does not want to say."

Flack rolled his eyes, and Mac sighed.

" Mrs. McCalister," Mac said calmly, " we're truly not here about your son. If anything, we're here to help him. Did his cousin Bruno stop by some time today?"

Mrs. McCalister narrowed her eyes. " That scum from the bottom of a pond? He stops by more than I like. He is a bad influence on my Ricky. He is a bad presence in our household. Bruno, he is no nephew of mine. He is my husband's nephew only and nothing to me. But yes, he did stop by. Why, is this all about him?"

Mac inclined his head. " Yes."

A wicked grin spread on Mrs. McCalister's face. " Then you should have said so sooner. I care nothing for Bruno, and if it is Bruno you want, then Ricky will talk."

She turned her head and cupped her hand over her mouth. " Ricky!" She bellowed. Flack flinched and the cop behind them winced at the woman's grating voice that seemed to cut into the ears like a butcher knife.

Mrs. McCalister held up a finger. " Wait, wait there." She then went into the house, hollering out Ricky's name. When she came back her sour expression had been replaced by one of worry.

" He is not here."

" Do you know where he might have gone?" Flack asked.

She shook her head. " He comes and goes like the wind. Half the time, I never even know he is gone." The sound of her voice held a forlorn quality to it. Mac smiled at her reassuringly.

" When we find him ma'am, we'll send him straight home."

Mrs. McCalister nodded and shut the door.

" Sure she wasn't just covering for him?" Flack said as they made their way back up the hall.

Mac shook his head. " Danny told me she despises Bruno. She kept insisting that Bruno put Ricky up to everything."

" I'm starting to believe Ricky didn't even pull the trigger," Flack replied.

" Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn't put it past Bruno to convince his own cousin to take the hit. Probably told him it would make him a big shot or something. But that doesn't matter right now. If we don't find some evidence soon, Bruno and his gang will walk."

Flack nodded in understanding. " And Danny'll never be able to go home again. But how the hell are we going to find Ricky anyway?"

" We aren't," Mac replied, " Danny is."

NYNYNYNY

" Ricky doesn't have a car," Danny told Mac as Mac pulled away from the curb. " So he'd have to walk. There's three possible places he could have gone, but only one real logical one. He would want to be hidden, out of the way, in a place most wouldn't think to look."

" A place without a lot of people?" Mac asked.

Danny nodded, thinking back. " Something like that. And there's only one place I can think of he would most likely head off to. I've been there… a couple of times. It's out of the way, not by any residence. A place you can go if – you know – you don't want anyone hearing any screaming. Good place to do a little dirty work."

Danny guided Mac down several streets, leaving behind apartments and stores and heading into an area with empty sidewalks and what appeared to be empty buildings. Soon they came to what looked to be some sort of abandoned shipping yard or storage facility full of several warehouses. A sign at the front announced new ownership and the promise of new business and jobs.

But Danny's gaze went immediately to the nearest building - one of the storage units - and to the topmost floor. That may have been where it took place, the beating Danny hardly recalled. All he ever remembered from that night was waking up in the hospital with Tennessee sitting at his bedside. But it would not have been the first time someone brought him here. It was out of the way as he had told Mac. It was where all the discreet beatings took place, the ones not meant to kill but to act as a warning to rivals. Danny was a favored target because he had been young, scrawny, and therefore weak, though he had landed a few punches himself when he had the chance.

But if Bruno had ordered his near-death beating, then this was where it would have taken place. This was where it always took place.

" That one," Danny said, pointing to the building. " On the top floor. Door shouldn't be locked, not any more."

Mac pulled up along beside it, with Flack coming in behind.

" Stay here," Mac told Danny. Danny nodded. He watched as Mac joined Flack and the other officer. The three went in by a small side door with a shattered window and mangled handle. When they vanished inside, Danny turned his gaze upward at the top floor, then gradually moved his eyes downward as he looked the building over. It was plain, square, with a fire escape on the left side hidden in shadows. Danny fixed his sights on the escape and watched it carefully.

He had forgotten about the fire escape. Then again, he hardly recalled it even now, having been nearly unconscious every time he was hauled down it.

Danny got out of the car and headed toward the shadowy side of the building. He stood beneath the fire escape and stared up at it, wondering how they ever managed to drag his limp body down the rickety steps and ladders. The trip down probably constituted half the bruising.

Suddenly, he saw movement when the door to the escape burst open and Ricky came tripping out. The platform groaned ominously against Ricky's weight as he scrambled down the steps in a ringing of footfalls. Though short, Ricky was a well-built kid with dark, unruly hair. He was wearing a black coat and baggy jeans that to Danny's amazement had yet to trip the kid up.

Ricky kept looking over his shoulder as he climbed, so had yet to notice Danny. Danny took three steps back when Ricky reached the ladder. Ricky clamored halfway down then dropped with a thud the rest of the way. He turned, ready to bolt, only to stop short with a gasp when he saw Danny.

" Why the rush Rick?" Danny asked.

Ricky glanced around, deciding the best possible escape route. Then, looking back at Danny, he took Danny's injuries into stock for the first time and relaxed. A stupid grin spread on his face as he nodded in realization.

" See my cousin had a little talk with you," he said.

Danny's gaze darkened. " Yeah, he talked with me."

" Didn't learn your lesson then, I guess."

Danny shrugged. " Never have, never will. You got something we need, Ricky. We know Bruno visited you, and we know he gave you something. It's all we want Ricky, whatever he gave you. I promise you won't be taken in if you just hand it over."

Ricky started moving toward Danny. " He didn't give me crap."

Danny let out a sharp breath of annoyance. Ricky always seemed dumber than dirt, and now he was proving it. He walked up to Danny with supreme confidence, just because Danny was hurt, and not even considering that Danny might be armed.

Danny did have his gun with him, but he chose not to draw it. Instead, he waited for Ricky to act, knowing well enough he would.

" He did, Ricky. A glove, maybe? It's all we want, I swear. Just give us whatever he gave you and we can all walk out of here without a problem."

Ricky was now standing face to face with Danny, though the kid was an inch shorter than the CSI.

" You gonna make me?" Ricky asked. " You can try, and I can break another one of your bones."

Danny smiled, then bent his good arm and shot it out to connect his elbow with Ricky's nose. It hit with an audible crack, and Ricky fell to the ground, holding his nose and writhing in pain.

" Ah, crap! Ah man… what the hell!" he wailed. He moved his hand away to look, and saw blood smeared on his fingers. Panic filled his eyes.

" You broke my nose… You broke my nose."

Danny walked over to Ricky, grabbing him by the sleeve of his coat and hauling him to his feet. " I made your nose bleed, doesn't mean I broke it. Quit whining about it. Least the rest of you is still in one piece. You should be happy about that." He jerked Ricky around to face him. " You won't be having to take a crap-load of drugs just so can breathe right. Now hand over what Bruno gave you."

Ricky was still holding his nose with both hands, wincing. Danny rolled his eyes and pulled a Kleenex from his pocket. Grabbing Ricky's hand he shoved the tissue into it. Ricky held it up to his nose, scowling.

" Bruno's gonna kill me for this," Ricky whimpered.

" Actually, should he ask, I'll just tell him I beat the snot out of you for it. Which is kind of true. Listen Ricky; you don't owe Bruno anything. He sets people up and that's a fact. I highly believe he set you for that murder rap you so narrowly escaped thanks to someone else's stupidity. Of course it didn't help that you acted all proud of it. The thing is, Ricky, you don't have much of a choice. I'm pretty sure you're carrying the thing on you, and by not handing it over that makes you an accessory to assault and battery. You wouldn't want that now, would you? I know your mom wouldn't. You got a second chance, Rick, don't waste it on something stupid as this."

Ricky rolled his own eyes, fighting Danny's words. But they sunk in all the same, and Ricky reached into the pocket of his coat, pulling out a plastic bag. He held it up for Danny to see and Danny grinned. Inside was a pair of beige leather gloves, and a nice pair at that, now all ruined by the blood caking nearly every inch: Danny's blood.

" Don't give it to me. Give it to the cop when he comes out."

" Hey Danny!" someone called. Danny looked up to see Mac standing on the top-most platform of the escape.

" Yeah Mac?"

" Thought I told you to stay in the car."

Danny smirked. " You said to stay here. You didn't say anything about the car."

Mac grinned back. " You all right?"

Danny clasped a sullen Ricky's shoulder. " I am now."


	10. Accusation ch 10

Disclaimer: Oh, not again, I told you already. Oh what the heck, one more time. I don't own CSI.

CSY NY

Ch. 10

After dropping Ricky off back home, they headed back to the crime lab to start tests on the glove. Danny followed them in, rubbing his elbow that still retained a slight throbbing.

" Maybe you should get that checked," Mac said as he led the way inside.

Danny shook his head. " I think I can live with it."

On entering the building, they were met by Stella hurrying toward them, her expression dark.

" Guess who they dragged in here just to drag back out." she said, then turned.

Heading toward them, bound in cuffs and being escorted by two officers, was a face Danny recognized in a disgusted kind of way.

Brian "Bruno" McCalister was being hauled out of the building, most likely to be taken back to his holding cell. Plastered on his face was a self-assured grin that sent anger burning through Danny's brain to go coursing down his rigid spine. He clenched the fist of his good arm, and glared at Bruno as he approached.

Bruno's grin broadened as he neared Danny. He jerked to a stop though the two officers (one of them Jennings) pulled at Bruno, commanding him to keep going. Danny raised his hand to get them to stop.

" Hey Bruno," Danny said. Bruno was taller than Danny, as well as heavier in build. His black hair was slicked back, and the muscles of his arms twitched, bulging, as though he was trying to show them off. It was the reason he always wore T-shirts, even on the coldest days.

Bruno looked Danny over curiously and with a touch of incomprehension Danny knew good and well he was feigning. He then looked over his shoulder at Jennings.

" Never seen this punk before in my life," he said. Jennings rolled her eyes, then looked at Danny with an apologetic, even sympathetic, gaze.

Bruno looked Danny over again. " What happened to him? Get in a fight with a truck and lost?" He laughed a grating, almost high-pitched laugh.

Danny looked over at Mac, and Mac returned his gaze, nodding once. Danny smiled, then looked at Bruno straight in the eyes. Looking into the smug, mirthful eyes of the man that had caused half the misery of his life made Danny want to spit in his face and pound him until he couldn't even think. His heart beat furiously with remembrance, with old imaginings of Bruno smiling as he ordered a crony to drive his fist into young Danny's face, and smiling more when he did the act himself to adult Danny in the dark. Always smiling, he was always smiling, though Danny had never seen that smile for himself, except from a distance whenever Bruno drove by or entered where he was not welcome. He was always so certain, so confident in his capabilities of never getting caught. He was thinking it right now, Danny knew, of what he would do once it was discovered there was no evidence to back Danny's claim. He was probably planning another assault on Danny, maybe even in the same place, just for fun and spite.

Danny swallowed hard as though trying to swallow back his rising anger.

" Good one Bruno," Danny said, his voice flat and wavering on the verge of losing control. But he maintained it. Somehow he found the means to keep himself on the level. " Why not just tell all these nice people what really happened to me. I mean, half of this is your work."

Bruno snickered. " You can't prove that. Not in this life, buddy."

" No, I can't, but then I'm not the one working this case."

Mac then held up the bag containing the gloves, and started moving toward the lab. Bruno stopped snickering, and his face fell; though his lips managed to hold onto a small piece of his grin.

" Looks like you got the better of yourself, Bruno," Danny spat, glaring viciously at the bigger man. Bruno straightened to his full height, watching Mac like a wolf as he headed to the lab, followed by a smirking Stella. Bruno then shifted his attention back to Danny.

" So? Some bloody gloves. Those could be anyone's."

Danny leaned in toward Bruno's face, lowering his voice.

" You hit me pretty hard, Bruno." He then leaned toward the side, looking at Bruno's hands. Just as Tennessee had said, the bruising was minimal, but there were several small knicks on his knuckles. He looked back at Bruno, and allowed himself a small smile. " You didn't stop all the marks, Bruno. You didn't stop 'em all from getting on your hands."

Bruno's grin had completely vanished. " This isn't over, Messer."

" Yeah it is, Bruno, at least between you and me. I owe you a bullet. You come anywhere near me again, I'll be sure to give it to you."

Bruno said nothing for the longest time, refusing even to move. Then he lurched forward in an attempt to attack Danny or at least spook him, but the cops pulled him back. Danny didn't even so much as blink. The police started guiding Bruno out the building when he jerked, causing them to stop, and leaned in toward Danny to speak in his ear.

" How the hell did you find those, huh? Who told?"

Danny pretended to think for a moment, then shrugged, smiled, and walked away. He could hear the two officers snapping at Bruno to keep moving, and could see clearly without having to look the anger on Bruno's face. But most especially, the lack of any kind of a smile.

Danny wanted to shout for joy, to jump and holler, to do anything to release the joy flooding his being and causing his heart, for once, to pound in exhilaration. Bruno was going away, finally going away. Hell had frozen over, pigs were flying, and Bruno was going away. Maybe it wasn't for murder, but that did not matter to Danny. What mattered was that Danny had won. For once in his life, he had won a fight against Bruno McCalister.

Danny, grinning from ear to ear, moved slowly toward the lab and sat in the nearest chair to wait. Despite all the amazement and joy inside him, what he felt most of all was exhaustion. He had never taken a real moment to relax since leaving the hospital. He had rested, yes, but it was nothing legitimate. Now that it was ending, all the tension that had been building up inside him oozed away, leaving him weary and full of aches and pains. His back hurt fiercely from being bent all the time, but to straighten it would only cause pain in his chest. No happy mediums here, but it still did not diminish his smile.

NYNYNY

Danny had fallen asleep without realizing it, with his head tilted back to rest against the wall next to the lab. He jerked awake when he heard the doors open and felt something lightly whack his shoulder. He looked up to see Aiden standing over him, and felt a small twinge of déjà vu.

" Why aren't you out celebrating?" she asked.

Danny rubbed the back of his head. " Didn't we have a conversation like this before? As I recall, it didn't go too well afterwards. Besides, aren't they still doing tests?"

Aiden smiled at him. " They matched the blood on the outside to yours, and they're working on some blood on the inside. It's a closed case, Danny. Bruno's goin' down for this. Justice will – for once in Bruno's case – actually be served. You should be out partying, buying everyone drinks or something."

Danny began rubbing at a kink in his neck. He looked up at her, his eyes heavy with sleep-fog still drifting throughout his brain. Aiden pressed her lips together into a straight line.

" But, all you probably want to do is go home, numb yourself over, and sleep, right?"

Danny nodded. " And there's this cat I gotta feed."

Aiden shook her head. " Yeah, you really do know how to have a good time, don't you Messer. Go home, feed cat, nod off. Come on, we've gotta do something. If not today then some time. Hey, I know."

Aiden suddenly took off only to come back a minute later with a black sharpie. She knelt beside Danny and began writing on his cast, the pen squeaking as she whipped it about in her quick handwriting. When she finished, capping the pen and standing, Danny lifted his arm to look at what she put. He chuckled softly, careful not to aggravate his ribs.

There was a picture of an angry stick-figure man glowering from behind bars, and a grinning stick figure beside it with no bars. The note above both pictures read: Danny Messer 1, Bruno 0, if this doesn't make you smile then nothing will. Below was signed Aiden's name.

" Yeah, it's stupid, I know," Aiden said. " Just don't forget it either."

Just then, Stella came out of the lab, followed by Mac. Aiden tossed the pen to Stella.

" Sign his cast," Aiden said. Stella looked at the pen, then shrugged and knelt by Danny to write something. Danny watched her for a moment, then looked up at Mac.

" Thanks Mac."

Mac inclined his head in a nod. There wasn't much else to be said; though a simple thanks seemed insufficient to Danny. Mac had shown great trust in Danny, and Danny was more grateful for that than Mac probably realized. Or, perhaps, he did realize. It was hard to say with Mac.

When Stella had finished she tossed the pen to Mac. " You ready to go home, Danny?" He asked. Danny pushed himself to his feet, wincing slightly. He lifted his arm for Mac to write something.

" Right now, it's the only thing I'm looking forward to."

When Mac had finished writing something about Danny getting well soon so he could get back to work already, Danny turned suddenly to lean down and plant a quick kiss on Aiden's cheek. " There, you happy? I celebrated," he said with a smirk. Aiden smirked back and shoved him in his good arm as he turned to leave.

" I'll have someone follow you home," Mac said, " just in case."

Danny would have protested, but he really didn't care. Just as long as he got home that was all that mattered to him right now. He would toast to Tennessee, write him a letter on how things went, then take his meds and crash. He felt strangely light, strangely free, free to stop thinking about the past and focus on the now. Bruno was only one speck in the timeline of yesterday, a flaw, but he had been dealt with, so meant nothing to the present. He was where he was supposed to be, and Danny was where he needed to be. So Danny no longer cared about Bruno anymore, or Tom Ryan, tampered evidence, and false accusations. It was all in the past now.

The End

I hope the ending was satisfactory. Many of my readers for my other works tend to want me to end things violently. Oh well.

Thank you everyone who read and responded. I'm glad you enjoyed this, though reading back I find many things I want to change and fix.Oh, I'll do it later. I'm working on one more story for CSI New York. After that, I need to turn my attention to other tales I've been neglecting. If my stories could talk they would be yelling at me right now.


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